The Battle of the Sky Army and the Squid Army: Part 4
by The Awesomer
Summary: Three months have passed since the last incident. The winter has been harsh on Sky Army, but the cold weather is going to be the least of their worries when Sky finds a girl with vital information on The Squids, a plan that could wipe out the human-race if they choose to use it and it backfires, and a very dangerous secret. Featuring new and old OCs!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello Sky Army Recruits, Readers, and Awesomer Army Members! I am very happy with the turnout of Part 3, and I _love_ making you guys happy! Also, I am working on making the chapters longer for your entertainment. I now give you...**

**The Battle of the Sky Army and the Squid Army: Part 4!**

* * *

Sky POV—

"Dammit! What the fuck was that, Dawn?!"

Dawn was rolling on the floor, laughing hysterically and wiping away tears running down her cheeks. "Oh my _Notch!_ That is hilarious!"

I was sitting in a pool of slimes, trying to pull myself out only using a weak vine Dawn had thrown me. She had disguised the slimes to look like water and told me that my budder armor and weapons Notch had given me for our wedding was in there. I had jumped in, and I was now slowly sinking in the green slimes. "Why are you doing dis?!"

"Mine-Pranks 3, _bitch!_" Ethan, Antvenom, Bajan Canadian, and MUDKIPZ came from behind me and knelt next to the pool of slimes. "How do _you_ like it?"

Honestly, I thought it was a good prank, but I was scared to death when I began to sink faster into the pool of slimes. "Get me outta here!"

"No! We like watching the weird faces you make!" Bajan laughed. "You look like Kermit when he gets pushed into the lava in Bodil's parkour courses!"

I was really sinking now, and I felt panic grip my chest. "Seriously, guys! I'm going to shove you all into a pit of TNT and creepers the next chance I get!" I threatened.

Ethan and Antvenom were laughing their heads off, tears streaming down their cheeks. "You face is so red! Ha ha ha ha!"

I started to pull more on the vine Dawn threw me, praying it wouldn't break. Unfortunately, MUDKIPZ started to saw at it with a budder knife. My eyes turned wide with absolute fear. "Don't do dis!"

MUDKIPZ was halfway through the vine.

"DON'T DO DIS!" I yelled, gritting my teeth. "I don't wanna have to punch all these slimes to death!"

The vine snapped, and I began to sink even faster. "FUCK! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU ALL!" This only brought on even harder laughing. I was now waist deep in the slimes, and no one was making any attempt to help me. I hated them. I hated them all for this.

Then I felt something wrap around my leg and start pulling me lower. I was scared, and I began to claw at the edge of the pool. "Something's got me! Help! Halp! Haaaalp!"

My friends' eyes then turned dark navy blue. They're arms and legs multiplied, growing suction cups and becoming boneless. All of them grew huge and eerie grins, showing off fangs that were yellowed.

"SQUIDS!" I pushed away from the pool edge and kicked desperately.

My friends kept smiling. "Mine-Pranks 3 is brought to by: The Death of Sky and Sky Army! Done by the hands of The Squids!"

The thing that was wrapped around my leg yanked me and I was submerged underneath the slimes. I began to suffocate, unable to get air from anything. I could see a squid tentacle pulling me down into the darkness. I could almost imagine an evil laugh taunting me...

* * *

Then I woke up.

I jolted awake in my bed, a cold sweat covering me as I shook. I stifled a scream though, trying not to wake Dawn in the bed next to me. Plus...

I didn't know what. Dawn just said that there was going to be a surprise she wanted to tell me about in a few weeks.

I sighed and got up from the bed, grabbing a jacket and my enchanted budder sword Notch gave me for a wedding present. It was the middle of the winter, and this one had been especially harsh. It was often buckets of snow falling constantly, with very rare events where it stopped for even half an hour. We couldn't often get wood or find any new recruits. It was hard to grow the needed crops for food or breeding animals since they often needed sunlight. But the good news was that The Squids couldn't come out of the water to attack the Sky Army, or The Audience, or the Dwellers, or Team Press Start. Even the hostile mobs didn't want to come out to attack us.

I pulled the hood over my head and began to walk into the heavy snowfall. Everything was covered in a deep blanket of white crystals, making it seem like we were in the Aether. I shivered as the snow made a cold cloak over my shoulders, but I resisted the urge to go back into the main building. I wanted to walk in the forest for a bit. Maybe I could collect some supplies before the real blizzard blasted us. We were starting to run low on food and wood, and I would hate if it meant we had to move locations again. The Sky Army had grown accustomed to the forest biome, and none of us wanted to go back to the trap infested rain forest like before.

The snow lightened up, and I was puzzled. Maybe it was the calm before the blizzard? But I had never seen the snow lighten up that suddenly...

The moon then began to come out from the clouds, only it was fuller and bigger than usual. _That's weird,_ I thought. _We may not be able to see the moon through all the clouds, but I know that it should be a new moon tonight. And why is it so big?_

It began to turn a shiny silver, and a ten-block ring of snow around me melted to reveal green grass. I freaked out and drew my budder sword, maintaining my attack stance. "Holy squid shit!"

* * *

Athena POV—

**(A/N Say hello to my personal OC, Athena Muldrow! Named after me!)**

I pulled my dark green hoodie back from my face and shut the small silver locket. I walked tall and confident as I approached the throne of Notch. He wore his white robes as usual, a wreath of silver on top of his head. He sat tall and proud, but a grim look was on his face, like he knew something I didn't.

I bowed instead of knelt, knowing that I would have to be brief. "Lord Notch."

He nodded. "You should not have come, Athena. Why do you ignore my warnings?"

I smirked. "Because I know what might really work in destroying The Squids once and for all."

He sighed. "I already know of your intentions, and yet you are stubborn to accept that your plan will kill hundreds."

"I don't care, Lord. I am to travel to the Overworld tonight and tell Sky of my plan," I said with confidence.

Notch stood, fire burning in his eyes. "You dare ignore my orders? This will destroy the Sky Army and all of its alliances! It will not help them! The Squids will inherit the world and destroy anyone who tries to get in their way! You wish to risk all of Sky Army to take down the Squid Army with a plan that will back fire?"

I nodded. "Yes, Lord. I will do whatever it takes."

Notch growled—raising a finger as if to blast me to bits—but Polska materialized beside him about the same size. "Father!" she scolded.

He glared at her angrily. "You dare defend this girl who is to risk Sky Army to destruction?" he bellowed.

Polska shook her head. "No, Father. I do not wish for Athena to try her plan, but I do not want to see you destroying a woman who has useful information we may need."

Del and her siblings teleported next to me, almost like they wanted to defend me. Notch glanced at them, but kept his attention to Polska. "You are the one who ignores my orders most!"

She looked unfazed. "I cannot stay in the Aether for two years and keep my sanity, Father. I disobey for my own good."

The fire in his eyes seemed to flare up for a second, but then died down. "I give you and all of your siblings an early release from the training. You all may leave or come as you please. Only on one condition..." He pointed at me. "You must keep an eye on her. If she dares to try and carry out her plan, I will personally hand her over to Herobrine!"

We all bowed and left. I felt my heart sink. This was my only chance to destroy The Squids for what they did to my little sister, and I blew it...

When we all left the throne room, I pulled out my twin budder daggers and embedded them into the stone walls in anger. iAngel, Zhubox, Del, Sierra, and Kate tried to comfort me. I slapped away their hands. "Go. I'll be fine. I should go home..."

Polska grabbed my shoulder before I could run down the halls to go to the portal I created. "I know for a fact that you don't have a home. You just run for life constantly. After your sister died..." She trailed off, knowing that I would collapse and cry if she kept talking.

I pulled my daggers from the wall and sheathed them. "I don't care. I just want to get away from here. I'd rather go to the Nether than be here any longer." I pushed past her and began to walk towards the portal. "I hope Sky Army can figure out their weakness."

Zhubox and Del looked at each other, then turned to me. "Athena, we may have another plan. It's much safer than your plan, and it has an even better chance of working."

I snapped my attention to them. "Tell me!"

Kate punched Zhubox in the shoulder. "I told you, _no._"

I blasted to them at an inhuman speed. "_Tell me!_" I hissed.

May I mention that I'm not completely human? I'm a hybrid; part human, part... _I'd-rather-not-talk-about-it-for-now-because-I- think-it-would-be-safer-for-all-of-us._ This may sound impossible, but then again, it would be impossible for there to be _six_ children of Notch. Think it's so farfetched now?

iAngel took a deep breath. "It's not safe to talk about it here. You start heading to the Overworld and we'll meet there." She turned back to the throne room with a concerned look. "We'll have to calm Notch down a little first before we leave. If he's in a sour mood, then the Overworld is not going to be treated with a smiling sun and rainbows."

We then heard and felt a deep rumble. "_ATHENA!_"

Sierra's and Del's turned wide. "Oh no."

"What?" I asked.

Kate and Polska pulled out two halves of a purple stone, handing me both of the halves. "When we say 'go,' put those together. Father just realized what exactly you know and what you _are._ We'll hold him off for a while, but you need to find a safe place and prepare for the long run."

"Why?" I asked, now scared.

Zhubox started to sweat. "He's going to try and kill you unless we can stop him."

A large explosion blew the doors off of the throne room and Notch stormed out, fire burning in his eyes. He bellowed, raising a finger to blast me to bits—

"GO!" iAngel started to run towards Notch.

I quickly connected the two stone halves, and I vaporized in a puff of purple ender particles.

* * *

Sky POV—

I held my sword in front me, ready to kill anything that threatened me. Six human-sized orbs of light surrounded me, shifting and spinning around me.

"Sky..."

"We have come back..."

"Remember us..."

I was scared, following the orbs with wide eyes. They whispered to me, asking me if I remembered or what their names were. I didn't answer, partly because I didn't know, partly because I had a feeling that they weren't human. I kept my sword up, trying not to shake in fear.

"AAAAAAA—! OOF!" Something big fell in front of me.

I panicked, yelping and tackling the thing. I pinned it to the snow-covered ground, raising my sword in case I needed to kill. I saw that it was a girl. She had spiky black hair, a dark green hoodie, pink camo jeans held up by a leather belt, combat boots, and fingerless gloves. Her eyes were a storm grey, shifting colors every second. She had two budder knifes strapped to her, ready to use and kill with. She glared angrily at me, clenching her jaw with anger. But when she saw me, she softened up.

"Sky?"

I grit my teeth. "Who the fuck are you? You work for The Squids? Should I kill you here and now?"

The orbs started to come closer, and the girl cursed. "Let me go. You do _not_ want to be captured by them!"

I growled. "Why should I? Risk the fact that you may be a recruit for The Squids?"

She motioned to the budder knifes that were at her belt. "Would a Squid carry around weapons like that?"

I let her go without further hesitation. We both went back-to-back, brandishing our weapons like a blazing fire. I glanced back at her. "You know about these things?"

"They killed my little sister."


	2. Chapter 2: A Fight to Remember

Sky POV—

I was back-to-back with a strange girl, staring at some strange glowing beings that were surrounding me in the snow. They were glowing an eerie blue, shifting and starting to take humanoid forms. The whispered to me. I grit my teeth and tried to ignore them, but I caught a few words.

"He fights with the abomination..."

"The hybrid..."

"The traitor..."

"The one who deserves to die alone..."

The girl growled, almost sounding like a deep animal growl. "Fucking vapor-entia! Shut up!" She put away her knives and replaced it with a bow, notching an arrow to kill. "FUCK OFF!"

One of the _vapor-entia_ lunged at me, and I quickly sliced it down the middle. It hissed and dissipated, but only regrouped like mist. I clenched my jaw as I sliced through another one. It did the same thing. The girl behind me kept firing arrows, only for them pass straight through.

I swung my sword at another being and cursed. "Squid shit. Do these things _die_?_"_

"Yeah! But something's preventing them from! They usually sink back to the Nether," she yelled back, firing another arrow.

I sliced through two at once, making them hiss. One of the vapor-entia giggled like a little girl and passed through my chest, pain erupting from where it touched me. I yelped and sliced my budder sword through the being. It hissed like a blaze and backed away, orbiting around us both. I felt something pumping through my veins, but it wasn't adrenaline. I started to see doubles of the moon and my own sword. Pain was wracking my body.

"Shit! Sky, don't move!" the girl ordered. She shot another arrow before tossing me a healing potion. I caught it and forced down the concoction, feeling the pain instantly fade then disappear.

"What the Nether was that?!" I demanded, raising my budder sword again to fight.

"Wither Effect. A kind of poison that hurts like nothing you've experienced." she answered, reaching for another arrow only to realize that she didn't have any.

This kind of fighting went on for a while; us trying to kill the vapor-entia only for them to dissipate then reform. Slowly we both began to tire, and the beings started to giggle with glee. "You slowly begin to exhaust. Shall you give up and let us take you to our masters' realm?"

"FUCK NO!" the girl screamed, lunging at the vapor-entia with her twin daggers. She missed, and the beings surrounded her.

All I could hear now was her pain-filled shrieks. The beings were passing through her, poisoning her and giggling. "Give up hope! Let us take you to our masters' realm!"

I ran to try and help her, but one of the _things_ passed through my chest, and I collapsed onto my hands and knees. Adrenaline pumped through my heart as the poison filled my lungs, making me cough and grasp my throat. The silver moonlight started to dim, and I fell completely onto my stomach. My body was desperately fighting the poison.

As for now, sleep felt inviting. The snow would make a soft white blanket around me...

* * *

Athena POV—

I screamed as the vapor-entia—or vapor-spirits—started to poison me, pain wracking my whole body. I had experienced the Wither Effect so many times in the past, but not as much as _this_. I could feel myself dying, life slipping from my grasp. I dropped to my knees, letting go of my daggers and clasping at my throat. I was burning from the inside, unable to breathe...

_Athena! Don't go! You can't die now!_

"E—Eris...?" I gasped through my excruciating pain.

_Don't die! Not now! Please! Do this for me!_

My sister. But she was dead.

"Let us take you to our masters' realm without any struggle, and we shall not let you suffer!" the vapor-entia whispered.

I clenched my jaw. "You... killed... my only... remaining... fucking family!" I screamed, quickly picking up my knifes and lashing out at the things. One of them had a direct hit to where the heart should have been, making it shriek and start descending to the Nether.

Fantastic. Five more vapor-entia to go, and these ones were almost impossible to kill. Fan fucking-tasic! I executed a spin and stabbed two in the "hearts." The thing about me: when I'm in rage-mode, I'm basically unstoppable. Nothing can touch or kill me, and I can only kill. Again, I was a hybrid, so this made sense...

...almost.

I slashed two more where their heads would have been, making them start their descent to the Nether. The last one tried to get away, but with a flick of my wrist, I summoned a wither skull to my hand. I chucked it at the entity, and it exploded on impact. The vapor-entia hissed and stopped moving, and I stabbed my budder daggers through where it would have a chest.

I'll explain the wither skull later.

"Don't mess with me, assholes," I spat. I sheathed my daggers and looked around.

_Where's Sky?_ I couldn't see him.

"Sky?" I squeaked, a little scared. "Where are you?"

I heard a weak moan to my left. "Dawn..."

My attention snapped to the voice, and I saw the tip of a budder sword sticking from the snow. I started to walk over, but the second my boot put weight on the snow, I sunk down to my knees. The snowfall had picked up _very_ quickly and heavily, and it had already buried Sky. I was positive that if it kept going at the rate it was at, it would be up to my thighs in less than a minute.

"Squid shit," I muttered, and I quickly pulled out a flint-and-steel. As much as I hated myself for what I was doing, I had no choice.

I adjusted myself so I was laying on my back, on _top_ of the snow instead of _in_ the snow. I began to roll to the closest tree near both me and Sky, my flint-and-steel ready to use. After I did this, I would have hurry and find a temporary shelter, knowing that I probably couldn't make it to Sky Army. Heck, I didn't even know _which way_ Sky Army HQ was in. With the flint part in one hand, the steel in the other, I struck them together, creating a single spark.

The tree burst into flames, instantly melting the snow around and on top of Sky. He obviously had the Wither Effect, his chest barely rising from his body using too much energy to fight the poison. That was how the Wither Effect worked: it didn't really physically hurt you, it just caused a crap-ton of pain. But your body was tricked into thinking that the poison was really doing harm, so it would fight the effects. Your body would use too much energy trying to fight the poison, and you would be too weak to go on unless you got help.

I pulled the budder sword from his fingers, putting it through one of my belt loops for later. I grabbed Sky's arm and hoisted him over my shoulders and onto my back. He moaned in pain, but I ignored it for a minute. I would have to focus on getting a temporary shelter and fixing him up before his body gave out. The tree I set fire to was almost completely burnt, and I began to walk in a random direction.

_Notch. I may not be the best person, and I may be too selfish to think for others' safety, but all I ask is that you help me. I just need a safe place to go with to heal Sky until morning,_ I silently prayed.

I felt my legs sink into the deep snow, shaking from the cold and the strain they were going through. I only clenched my jaw and kept pushing. Sky began to moan more, the pain obviously horrible. I grit my teeth.

_Please, Notch. This is all I ask. I swear I will never try anything risky without your permission. Please. Sky will die unless you help me!_

I kept walking for the next five minutes, the snow finally up to my waist. Sky was half-dead now, barely breathing. The cold was overwhelming to me, almost freezing me into place. But it wasn't long until I spotted a small cave. It had an iron door that was about iced shut.

I didn't care. I ran over and pounded my head against the door. "OPEN THE DOOR! PLEASE LET US IN! I HAVE A WOUNDED! ANYONE IN THERE?!"

A man quickly answered, pulling us into the cave. It was pretty warm, and I was grateful. The man helped get Sky from my shoulders and place him on a stone table. "What happened to this man?"

"The Wither Effect. He's on the edge. Do you have anything that can help him?" I gasped.

He nodded, a grin erupting on his face. "Yes, yes! I can help him! Give me a moment!"

I sighed and leaned against a wall tiredly, closing my eyes for a moment. "Thank you."

"This might feel a little painful..."

My eyes snapped open and I instinctively dove to the right. The man was holding a syringe filled with something orange, an insane smile plastered on his face. I now got a good look at him.

He had wild brown hair and a full grown brown beard, tangled and messy. He had a blue jacket, dirty tan jeans, and his eyes were different colors. One was sea blue and the other was dark purple. That grin explained everything else, because I recognized who he was.

"Shit!" I exclaimed. "You're Vic! I know who you are!" I yelped, just as he tried to stick the syringe in my arm again. I dodged and pulled out my daggers. "I just want you to help my friend and we can go! Don't hurt us!"

Vic was an alchemist. He was a very smart man honestly, good with medical situations and fighting. But he was insane. Literally. I only knew him because I had met him in the past. Most of the people who knew him called him _The Alchemist._

The Alchemist laughed. "Oh, I can help your friend. I just need your blood."

My nose flared with sudden disgust and anger. "What the _fuck_ do you need my _blood_ for?"

"I know who you are, Athena Artemis Muldrow!" he laughed.

I felt my fists tighten. "How do you know my full name? No one knows my full name!"

The Alchemist laughed. "I know a lot of things, like your friend over there is Sky; Leader of the Resistance Against Squids. You had a sister who you loved dearly named Eris. Plus, you have a plan that could destroy all of Sky Army."

I flicked my wrist and summoned a wither skull. "So... can you help Sky here and save _his fucking life_; or are you gonna try to kill me and let him die!?"

He chuckled. "I will help him, yes. But I need your blood. I know who and _what_ you are, Athena!"

My only thought at that moment:

_Shit._

* * *

Sky POV—

I coughed and sat up, clutching my throat and snapping my eyes open. "Holy shit!"

I felt a slight stinging sensation in my right arm, and I saw a man holding a syringe. He had a creepy grin on his face, and his appearance told me that the man was clearly insane.

"HOLY SQUID SHIT!" I reached to where my budder sword would have been, but I was grabbing at empty air. Adreniline pumped through me again, and I started to kick myself away from the man. I then fell onto my back from a stone table.

"Nice to see you're awake, General Sky," the man said.

I backed into the wall in fear. "GET AWAY! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH DAWN!?"

Someone grabbed my wrist. "He didn't do anything with Dawn..."

The girl from earlier was standing next to the other man, almost as pale as the beings that had attacked us before. She was shaking, her legs barely supporting her. In fact, she was leaning heavily against the wall.

I squinted through my sunglasses. "I never really got your name," I said.

She coughed before answering weakly: "Athena."

"Athena? What kind of name is that?" I asked.

"A name of a girl who saved your life." The man with the syringe from earlier walked up to me. He held a fresh needle filled with an blue substance. "You should be grateful."

I stared at them both in a mix of confusion and fear. "Where am I, first off?"

The man with the syringe smiled and bowed. "I welcome you to The Alternate Army. I am Vic; Head Medic and Alternate Army general."

Athena leaned in close and whispered into my ear: "Be careful around him. He's insane."

I nodded. "Ooooo-kay."

Vic smiled. "Come. I have a feeling you might want to look around."


	3. Chapter 3: Hello Old Friends!

**I... er...**

**The chapter I submitted earlier was the wrong chapter...**

**I'm so sorry for all of you people that read it. I have spoiled part of the story to you...**

* * *

Dawn POV—

_Sky is chained to a wall, The Squids laughing with glee as they stab him with swords and shoot him with arrows in front of me. He is shrieking loudly, tears streaming down my face as they force me to watch. Sky is bleeding profusely, the crimson fluids covering his body and the ground beneath him. His body finally gives out, and he cries out with his last breath:  
_

_"DAWN...!"_

_Sky's head sinks to his chest, leaving me screaming and crying. The Squids then pull his body from the wall and throw it into a midnight-black fire, where he burns into ashes. They put me on the wall next, slicing symbols into my arms and legs and shrieking with laughter. One finally pulls out its bow and fires an arrow at my abdomen, and I shriek in pain and sudden realization. I scream and free one of my hands to put over my stomach, feeling where blood was slowly flowing out. One of The Squids silences me with an arrow through my skull—_

_—wake up, Dawn!_

I open my eyes and gasp, putting both of my hands over my stomach. I was in my quarters, orange daylight bathing the room and my face. Seto was standing in the doorway, concern on his face. "Are you okay, Dawn?"

"I—I..." I stutter. "Er..."

Seto nodded. "I'll take that as a 'yes.' Anyways, get your sword and get to the conference room. We have a few visitors."

"W—Who are they?" I stumble across the words to form on my lips correctly.

He shrugged. "Dunno. They didn't show up or anything. There was just a paper on my door that told me to gather everyone and get to the conference room." Seto left to find the others.

I sighed and lay onto my back. I would have to thank Seto later on, since he woke me up from another nightmare. Ever since that letter from The Squids on our wedding, I've been having nightmares about our deaths, and how so many things would fall apart.

I peeled myself with effort from the bed and grabbed my budder sword. Sky wasn't in the bed, but that was no surprise. He had been having the nightmares too. He would get out of the bed in the middle of the night and walk in the heavily falling snow. I was always concerned when he did that, but he was never gone for too long, plus he always took his sword.

As I walked to the conference room, I stopped by the cafeteria for my rations. This winter was not going easy on us, and we couldn't exactly grow any extra crops when the snow was hidden behind the clouds. Our livestock was starting to die of sickness and starvation, and we weren't doing any better. Deadlox and his hunters were forced to hunt any kind of animal when the snow wasn't falling too hard. Every once in a while, he would find a horde of zombies, and we would have to eat the rotten flesh.

Not exactly the best rations, but it was better than starving to death.

My rations this time was a carrot and an apple. I ate the apple and left the carrot for someone else to have. Our recruits were passing around rumors that the Sky Army generals got more food than everyone else, and I didn't want to look like that.

The Sky Army generals were outside of the conference room, weapons ready. I got curious. "What's going on?"

Ssundee pointed at the door. "We don't want to take chances if it's The Squids or anyone else. We called Noah and Marz to be absolutely sure and have backup."

Kermit handed me a budder chestplate. "Might want protection for two."

I nodded, grateful for my friends. They were excited about the news I had told them, but it would be a harder life for Sky Army. Now we had to protect a person that was considered even more important than Sky himself, and it was not going to be easy. I hadn't told Sky about it yet. I wanted it to be a surprise.

Noah and Marz teleported next to us two seconds later in a puff of dark shadows. These two allies of the Sky Army were children of Herobrine, but the only traits they had were the void-like white eyes. Sparklez was a son of Herobrine too, but he prefered to look like a normal human-being. Sparklez rarely changed his eyes to the void-white.

Marz motioned to the door and mentally spoke to us all. _On three, got it?_

We nodded.

Noah mentally spoke to us. _One... two... three!_

We burst into the room with weapons ready, but we lowered them when we saw six people sitting at the table. All of them were in budder armor and holding weapons at their sides. All of them were smiling in a greeting. I smiled. "Well, well, well! It's our old friends!"

All the children of Notch nodded. "We're back."

Smiles and greetings went all around. Polska, iAngel, Zhubox, Kate, Luna, Sierra, Del. All of them were happy to see us, and they were especially excited about the news I told them about. We all laughed and talked a little, but then they brought up some news.

"We have a friend that has a plan that she believes could destroy The Squids once and for all, but Notch doesn't approve. Mostly because if it backfires, it could wipe out all of human existence," Del told us. "We have another plan that could work, but we don't know where our friend is. If she finds Sky and tells him her plan..."

Jerome leaned back in his chair. "You mean to tell us that there is a girl a plan that could kill us all, and you don't know where she is?"

Luna nodded. "Yep. Did we mention Notch is trying to kill her because of _what_ she is?"

MUDKIPZ cocked his head. "And what is she?"

Sierra pursed her lips. "I think that should wait for a little bit."

Minecraftuniverse kept pushing. "What is she? We need to know what we're dealing with."

iAngel shook her head. "You _seriously_ don't want to know."

Bajan sighed. "Alright. First off:Why did you teleport her to a random location without knowing _where she might freaking end up?_"

Luna growled, speaking through clenched teeth. "Shut up, Bajan. We didn't realize it was going to be a random location."

Polska put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Okay. Just calm down a little bit, Kate."

She stood up. "_Well_! I'm sorry if I wasn't the one who pissed off our own father because I don't ignore orders! I'm sorry if I was the one who kept fucking with The Squids' Head Quarters! I'm sorry if I wasn't the one who gave Athena the ender jewel!" Luna stormed out of the conference room.

Bajan called after her. "Luna! Ah, geez! I'll go get her—"

"No. She's fine." iAngel waved him off. "After what happened with Athena and Notch, we've all been tense."

Zhubox sighed and nodded. "She seemed to take it the most. We don't know why."

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. "Anyways, besides the fact that she has dangerous information, _is_ dangerous, and is being hunted down by Notch himself, what's the big deal? There's a _huge_ chance that she's not even on this side of the Overworld. She might not even be _on_ the Overworld. What are the chances of Sky and her meeting?"

Marz and Noah nodded in agreement. "True. This is almost like a 1 in a ten-million percent chance."

Ckbrothers scratched his head. "Exactly. They have a point. What's the big deal?"

Kate and Polska bit their lips. Del finally sighed. "Fine! _I'll_ tell them!" She pulled out a piece of soul sand and lit it with a flint-and-steel. A screen of dark smoke rose, shimmering until it showed an image. It was...

Sky. Sky was in a building with a girl and a man escorting him around, like they were giving him a tour of the place. The girl looked like someone who had been a fugitive all her life, with greasy short and spiky black hair and some interesting clothing. She had a tan aviator jacket and pink camo jeans, leather combat boots, and fingerless gloves. She looked pale and tired, like she hadn't slept in months.

The man was a different story. He had a blue jacket, dark tan jeans, plus a bonus of a tangled beard and dirty brown hair. His eyes were different colors, one a sea blue, and the other was a dark liquid purple. He kept adjusting his stone sword strapped to his belt and a syringe filled with a blue substance in his jacket pocket.

Ckbrothers yelped and fell back in his chair. "Vic! Squid shit!"

Kermit turned to him. "You know who that man is?"

Ck nodded. "Fuck."

I sighed and shrugged. "And..."

Zhubox pointed to the girl. "That's her."

* * *

Sky POV—

"That's about all of the base," Vic wrapped up.

I grinned. The Alternate Army really had a good set up: They found a way to grow crops by using glowstone light, food and materials were abundant, plus there were _hundreds_ of recruits. All of them had a familiar look to them, like I knew them from somewhere. Athena only nodded along the way, putting in a comment every few seconds during the tour.

"Vic, this is amazing," I marveled. "How did you develop stuff like this?"

He smiled. "Cutting edge technology."

Athena coughed again. I had a feeling something had sapped her energy before I woke up. "Most developed by you."

He grinned, happy by the compliment. "Yes, yes."

I leaned in close to Athena. "I thought you said he was insane? How did he develop most of this stuff?'

"He _is_ insane. He's just really intelligent at the same time," she answered.

I nodded. "Alright."

Vic waved for us to follow him, and we found ourselves back to where were started. "I believe the snow has stopped enough for you to return to the Sky Army."

I looked out the iron door, and he was right. The snow had stopped, revealing orange sunlight that covered the white snow. I cocked my head. "Yes... but I have no idea where it is from here."

Athena pointed straight outside. "It's just south of here. I figured that out during the tour. But you probably still need a guide."

I turned to the girl who saved my life. "You're not coming?"

She shook her head. "I can't. Personal reasons. Plus, it would most likely be safer for the Sky Army if I stayed."

I nodded. "Okay then." I turned to the insane medic next to me. "Thanks a lot, Vic. I would probably be dead if you hadn't been here."

He did that unsettling grin again. "I was glad to help a fellow Resistance Leader. I have the perfect guides for you as well." He turned his back to me and made a high-pitched, eerie whistle. "Ruby! Sapphire! Report to _Entrance 426!_"

About a minute later, two girls, about 18, came running from a hall to our left. One of the girls—who I guessed was Ruby—had firey red hair that reached her shoulder blades, a hot pink blouse with surprisingly matching orange pants, and fire-red wrist bands. Her eyes were a soft red, like embers from a dying fire, holding a kind of courage and intelligence. The second girl—which I decided was Sapphire—had long shimmering water-like hair pulled up in a pony-tail, a light blue blouse with matching aqua pants, and sea blue wrist bands. Her eyes were sky-blue, soft and intelligent.

Vic stepped forward. "Sky, this is Ruby and Sapphire. They're sisters, expert trackers, and amazing fighters. I think you three should get along well."

I smiled, offering my hands to both of them. "Nice to meet you both."

They smiled back and shook my hands. "Nice to meet you, too!"

Athena nodded, leaning heavily against the wall next to me now. She coughed and wheezed. "I think you all should get going."

Ruby looked outside the door. "Yep. The weather isn't gonna stay this nice for long."

Sapphire nodded. "C'mon! Maybe we can find some materials for that new automatic monster-sniping-thing Vic wants."


	4. Chapter 4: From Enemy to Friend

**NOW we're back on track! I'm actually uploading the correct chapter!**

* * *

Sky POV—

I walked through the snow, shivering like mad as the two twin sisters led me through the snow. Both of them were confident with which direction the Sky Army HQ was in...

But that was the problem. Sky Army HQ was supposed to be in the north, but the sisters were arguing over which way north was.

"Look at the sun, Ruby! It's right in front of us! _Rises in the east; sets in the west!_ North is _that_ way!" Sapphire shouted at her sister.

"No! It doesn't just depend on the sun! What about where the wind is blowing? North is _that _way!" Ruby protested.

I sighed as I watched the two 18-year-olds bicker. "Are you two young adults or little kids?"

They both glared at me. "Shut up, Sky!"

I raised my hands in a surrender. "Fine! Just figure out where we have to go!"

They continued to fight, and I began to think. Dawn was probably worried sick about me. I was never gone until this late into the morning. Did she think I was captured? Was she okay? And the Sky Army? Was she sending out several rescue parties to look for me?

I heard a nearby bush rustle lightly, and I instinctively froze. _What was that? A Jeffery?_

I shook off the feeling of fear. "Nah. It's probably the wind..." I muttered to myself.

_But there was no wind._

I heard another rustle just to my right, and I drew my sword. "Ruby. Sapphire. Do you guys have weapons?"

They stopped arguing to look at me. "Of course we do. Why would we not?"

I motioned for them to get their weapons. "We got company."

I heard a pluck of a bowstring and a sword being drawn. I slowly began to walk backwards until I was back-to-back with the twins, ready to fight for my life. My budder sword gleamed in the orange sunlight, making a small flash of light. I glanced behind me to check on the two sisters.

Ruby was holding a bow with a flaming arrow, ready to kill and make the target burst into flames. Sapphire was holding a diamond sword that shimmered a sea blue. Both looked ready to defend their lives without a second's hesitation.

I heard another rustle to my right, and I whipped around. "Who's there?!"

Sapphire nudged my arm. "Sky, when I say go, slowly start to back over to the tree in front of me. Climb it, and tell us if you can find anything."

I shook my head. "And if those noises were only a distraction? Plus, I can't risk your guys' lives."

Ruby hissed. "Hey! I saw you!"

I whipped my attention to the firey twin. "What'd you see?"

Sapphire pointed her sword at a nearby bush. "Stop! Enough fucking with us!"

I heard several more bushes rustle, but each one was in a separate direction, like there was more than one person. I clenched my jaw and felt frustration start to boil over. "WHO THE NETHER IS THERE?!"

Ruby and Sapphire both cried out a warning, just as something tackled me from behind, the angle clearly telling me that it was from above. I did a face-plant into the snow, sinking several inches as something heavy sat on my back.

"Sky!" I heard Sapphire shout. I felt the weight come off of my back, but my ears were greeted with the yelps of pain of two girls. I lifted my head from the snow to see the twins on their knees next to me. Blood dripped from their noses, making a bright red collage in the white snow. A woman with an old theatre mask stood above them, casually wiping some snowflakes from her dress. Ruby and Sapphire's weapons lay in the white crystals behind her.

The woman appeared to be either in her late-teens or early-adult years, her long brown hair pulled up in a bun like an agent would have. She looked out of place in the middle of the winter, sporting a Pikachu dress that went down to her ankles. Strapped to her back was an enchanted obsidian sword. The woman's theatre mask kept me from seeing anything else about her, even her eyes.

The woman lifted a hand and grabbed the collar of my shirt, bringing me out of the snow and pulling me up to her eye-level. "Well, well, well. I believe I found who I was looking for."

I growled deep in my throat. "Who are you?"

She giggled, much like the vapor-entia from earlier. "Why should I tell you? Hunt me down with Deadlox's hunters?"

I glared at her through my sunglasses. "No," I lied. "So I can beat your sorry ass and curse you, bitch."

She made a _tsk-tsk_ sound. "I wouldn't do that, Sky."

I hissed. "Why the squid shit not?"

She wrapped her fingers around my throat and pulled me completely off the ground. My throat was cut off, causing me to stop breathing. My eyes instantly bulged as I clawed at her hands, bloody scratches covering her hands. She didn't even flinch, only inspecting me, turning me in her hands like a new found treasure. "Hmm... They were serious when they said you weren't afraid to say anything, weren't they?"

Sapphire lunged at her from behind, trying to do a surprise ambush. But the woman didn't even _look back_ as she smoothly spun with me still in her hands and round-house kicked her in the chest. The blue twin was launched back to her knees in the snow where the woman kicked her in the jaw, blood oozing from her mouth and adding to the red masterpiece in the snow. Ruby yelped and jumped to get revenge for her sister, but the woman pulled her obsidian sword from her back and slashed Ruby's arms and right leg. The firey twin cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground, clutching the wounds as best she could.

The woman put her sword onto her back and put a hand where her mouth was tiredly, as if she were yawning. "If it was _this_ easy to catch the leader of the Resistance against The Squids, I coulda done this years ago."

I coughed, trying to force air into my lungs through the choke-hold this person was putting me through. "Ah... egi... hugp... yemf..." was all I could rasp out.

The woman chuckled. "Ah, yes. I do need to remember that I must bring you back to the HQ _alive_, or I may not get my money's worth. Always the money."

Sapphire was squeezing her blue eyes shut through horrible pain. I could tell that she had broken a rib or punctured something. "What the Nether are you talking about?"

The woman turned to look at Sapphire and Ruby. "Oh. I'm just doing my job. Let's leave it at that."

She turned back to me and loosened her grip slightly, enough for me to gulp a breath of air. "Is there anything you would like to say before I kill your friends here?"

I nodded. "Three things..."

She stretched her neck. "Go ahead."

"One: Don't you ever say that it was easy to catch me," I growled. "Two:..." I spit on her ski-mask.

The woman tightened her grip, choking me again. "And what may three be?" she asked through anger.

I kicked her with both of my legs in her shins, making her yelp and drop me in the snow. I landed on my feet and quickly grabbed my budder sword from the ground, taking one step towards her and kneeing her in the stomach. The woman cried out and doubled over, allowing me to plow her down several inches into the ground. I put my elbow against her throat and raised my sword just above her forehead. "Three: Don't fuck with me _or_ my friends."

Ruby grinned and crawled over to me and the woman, pulling off her theatre mask to reveal tan skin and budder eyes. She grit her teeth and tried to bite me, but I lowered my sword more threateningly. "I'll do it," I threatened.

She clenched her jaw and hissed. "Oh. Really?"

Sapphire gasped in pain. I looked over to see her prodding her ribs, looking for the break. I turned my attention to Ruby and jerked my head in her sister's direction. "You help her. I'll deal with this bitch."

The woman stopped struggling and just glared at me evilly. "Kill me now. Maybe you'll never figure out something about one of your friends." She gasped in a mock surprise. "Oops! I totally didn't mean to say that!" She giggled like a vapor-entia.

I hissed and lowered my sword a little more. "Tell me or I'll put this right between your eyes."

She smiled devilishly. "Oh, gosh no! Please don't do that, Sky! I didn't mean to say that!"

I put the point of the sword right between her eyes. "Fucking tell me!"

She giggled again, her smile almost to her ears. "Why should I? I only work for The Squids! Just kill me now!"

I pushed the point a little into her head, a tiny trickle of blood running down her forehead. "Tell me, or I'll make you regret those words. Maybe I can injure you and leave you to die. What can get you first? The cold, or the scavenging animals?"

The woman laughed. "Too bad, so sad. I work for The Squids. I have more back-up plans in my fingernail than your entire Sky Army can create in three years tops."

Ruby and Sapphire stood next to me. "Really? What about this?"

I looked up to see them holding a shit-ton of cash. Ten-thousand bucks tops. The woman's eyes turned wide with greed and surprise. "GIVE ME THE DOUGH!"

The two sisters stuffed the cash in their back pockets of their pants, smirks cleverly hidden from the woman's eyes. "Sure. If you help the Sky Army and it's alliances out. Deal?" Sapphire dealt.

The woman grit her teeth. "Fuck that."

"Triple the amount on arrival to the Sky Army HQ," Ruby coaxed.

"Nope."

"Triple the tripled amount," Sapphire offered.

"Yea—No!"

"Quadruple the tripled-tripled amount," Ruby dealt out.

It took me only half a second after that to realize that they were bribing her.

"No."

Ruby and Sapphire looked at each other for a minute, then grinned. "How about a tripled amount of all of the cash that Sky Army and all of it's alliances have?" they bribed.

"Done deal!" The woman nodded her head in excitement. "Name's Susan."

I pulled her from the ground and put away my sword. "You work for The Squids, eh?"

She nodded. "Yep... Well, only for the dough," Susan clarified. "I'm a Hit-woman. Don't know exactly who or what my targets do. My only job is to execute who I'm paid to kill and collect the cash."

I nodded. "Figures."


	5. Chapter 5: Sad Memories

Sky POV—

Susan really didn't know much about me or the sisters. She just knew that I was the enemy of her employers, I was the leader of the Resistance, and that she would be paid _five-hundred **million **_if I was killed sucessfully. If The Squids were that desperate to kill me, then Sky Army must have something they don't.

Of course, that would have to be either _budder—**budder**—_or something more dangerous.

"I actually hate working for The Squids. They rarely get the money to pay me, they treat me like a lap-dog, and I highly doubt they value me for anything else," Susan started talking about. "After a while, I had it. I managed to get some info you might want."

I nodded. "Anything at all can help."

Sapphire was leaning heavily on Ruby, panting from the pain and exhustion of a broken rib. "Can we rest for a bit?"

Ruby looked just as bad as her sister. "Yes! Please!"

I nodded. "Alright. We'll set up camp here."

Everyone collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Susan pulled up a flint-and-steel, placing some sticks on the ground and lighting them on fire. "Good. I have a few stories to tell that might keep you from sleeping tonight!"

* * *

Athena POV—

I laid on my bed Vic was nice enough to let me use in the Alternate Army living quarters. What would I dream about tonight? Notch handing me over to Herobrine? My future death? My own family punishing me for not saving them in time...?

I finally sat up and rubbed my left thigh. I used to have an old wound there, poisoned with some nasty things that I didn't want to remember. I was often on guard at night when I wasn't being sheltered by old friends. I was often in the forests, standing in the trees and trying to defend myself from the monsters that came out at night. I rarely got sleep, so I was seen with tired eyes.

I pulled out my budder knives and had them at the ready, even if I was safe inside of the cave walls of the Alternate Army HQ. I never really felt safe anywhere. I got off of my bed and sat on the cold stone beneath me. I hated the feeling of being in danger, but I also hated the feeling of being safe.

Fatigue finally got the best of me, and I closed my eyes.

* * *

Let me explain some things about my life.

My family worked for the Audience when it was first starting to grow, lead by TobyTurner. My father was a fighter, and a brave one too. My mother was a hunter, an unordinary job for a female. I was the second youngest of four siblings—an older sister and brother, plus a baby sister. The oldest girl was named Calypso, the oldest brother was Hephaestus, and my little sister was Eris.

When I was about 13, The Squids attempted to kill us because they figured out what my parents did to my siblings and I when we were first born (I'd rather talk about that later). They poisoned my father, unleashed a horde of skeletons and creepers to my mother, and drowned my older brother when he and I were going to fish. The only ones left of my family were my sisters and I.

We grabbed only what we needed. We devided the food evenly among us all in case we got seperated, I got an iron sword, Calypso got herself a bow, and Eris got two budder daggers. The Squids had blocked all the known entrances so they could burn our house down, but we escaped through our hidden mineshaft. Calypso was killed when The Squids found out we were alive and ambushed us with zombies.

I managed to grab her bow before we ran away, and Eris and I continued to try and survive. We managed to thrive in the desert, until we went to get some iron from a nearby cave. The Squids sent a horde of creepers and zombies after us. She died in my arms, but not before giving me her budder daggers. Eris died when she was only eight.

I never stopped moving after that. I always kept running from The Squids, scrounging, fighting, and bribing to get whatever I needed to survive. But it was never enough. I was often tired, or sleepless, or hungry.

I always hated my life...

* * *

That night, I dreamed about how Eris died.

We had gone into the cave to get some materials. It was then that I had broken my sword, and we needed to coal to make torches. Eris was skipping alongside me, singing and playing with Odysseus.

Odysseus was our pet wolf. Eris tamed him when she gave him a peice of her pork chop one night, and he didn't go away. When we finally decided to make him our pet, he recieved the respect a wolf would often be looking for. He hunted for food, chickens, pigs, cows, and even chased away the zombies.

It was then when The Squids decided to strike.

We went down to the layer where iron started to appear everywhere, and I was mining the needed iron. Eris was still playing with Odysseus, but she was just around the corner. She couldn't get lost or hurt if she was just around the corner, right?

"Athena!" my little sister cried.

"One second, Eris," I called back, grabbing the iron that I just freshly mined.

"Monsters!" Eris screamed.

"What kind of monsters?" I yelled, taking my attention from the iron to her voice.

"Zombies! And some other things!" she shouted back.

_And some other things?_ Probably some bats. Odysseus would kill the zombies. "Odysseus! Hunt!" I called.

Then I heard an explosion. I turned stiff and dropped my stone pick.

_"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"_ My sister's shrieks of hopefully just fear echoed throughout the caverns.

"CREEPERS!" I realized it too late as I slipped on a leather tunic and pulled out my bow, notching an arrow. "I'M COMING, ERIS!"

I turned the corner and saw what Eris was talking about. There were about five zombies that Odysseus was fighting off, but he wouldn't need help. He could fight off up to ten zombies easily. But the worst part was how there were _ten_ creepers slowly advancing towards my sister. I quickly sniped the closest creeper.

"ERIS! GET YOUR ARMOR ON!" I ordered my sister, shooting another creeper in the head.

I carefully began to walk forward, killing the creepers as fast as they could appear. Eris was fumbling with her iron chestplate that I made her, trying to slip it on before it was too late. The creepers were starting to appear in pairs of two, outnumbering the three of us.

Eris finally got her chestplate on, and she dashed over to hide behind my legs. I kept shooting creepers, but I knew I didn't have unlimited arrows. I quickly pulled out some cobblestone and tossed it to my sister. "Make a small base!"

She quickly got to work, placing the cobblestone in a wall around us. At the last second, she whistled for Odysseus to come back, and he slipped through a tiny hole in the stone.

I sighed and collapsed against one of the walls. "Are you alright, Eris? I think those were sent by The Squids..."

She nodded, her little hands shaking as she brought out her twin knives. "Y—Yeah... I'm fine."

I hugged her in relief. "Thank Notch..." I released her and brought out my spare pickaxe, ready to start mining back to the surface. "C'mon. Let's get the Nether out of here."

Odysseus barked and clawed at one of the stone walls.

"What is it, Odysseus?" Eris asked.

"He's probably just scar—," I started.

Then an explosion destroyed our tiny stone room. I instinctively threw my body over Eris like a shield, pinning her to the ground to protect her from the rock sailing through the air. Odysseus was smart enough to take cover behind a rock, crouching down like he does in attack stance.

Sharp rock scraped and cut my body, blood running down my arms and legs. A large rock about the size of my fist hit my head hard, and I was knocked into a daze.

I felt Eris crawl out from under me, coughing and gasping. She sheathed her knives and shook my shoulder. "Athena! Get up! The monsters are gonna get us! Hurry and get up!"

I moaned, a headache throbbing in my forehead. I felt a searing pain in my left thigh, forcing me to stay on the ground. "Eris..."

I heard the creepers start to approach, hissing and flashing white.

Eris drew her budder daggers and raised them, ready to fight. "It's alright, Athena! I'll protect you!"

It only took two seconds for me to process what that meant. Eris then dashed towards the falshing creepers. I burst onto my feet. "ERIS! NO!"

Too late. A creeper exploded and sent my little sister tumbling through the air back towards me. She hit the stone wall behind me hard, and I heard a sickening crack.

"NO!" I shrieked. I pulled out my bow and killed the remaining creepers, going into rage mode and becoming unstoppable. I summoned several wither skulls and attached them to the ends of my arrows, shooting them at the creepers. They turned into piles of sulfur, nothing left.

"A—Athe... naaaa..."

I dropped my bow and dashed to my little sister. Through her iron chestplate, a sharp rock as long as my arm pierced through her abdomen. Odysseus was laying at her side, whining in sadness.

I carefully put her on the ground and inspected the wound. I grabbed the end of the rock, and looked at my sister's gaunt and bloody face. "I know this is gonna hurt, but this is gonna help you survive longer, okay?"

She nodded, squeezing her eyes shut and put her hands over mine. "On... three... right?"

I nodded. "One..." I started.

"Two..." Eris continued.

"Three!" we said in unison.

I yanked on the rock, and Eris shrieked in absolute pain. I pulled the bloody shard of stone from her stomach and threw it aside, placing both of my hands on the wound it left and pressed against. "I know it hurts, but this is gonna help." My little sister clawed at my hands, whimpering and squeaking in pain. Both of our hands now were covered in the slick blood, trying to make sure she didn't bleed out.

I instructed my sister to hold the wound while I got my spare pickaxe, so we could get back to our shelter on the surface. When I looked back, Eris was fumbling for her two daggers that lay next to her. "Rah... vengeh... on... Squ... ids..."

" 'Revenge on Squids?' " I whispered, understanding what my eight-year-old sister was trying to say.

She slowly nodded. "Love... you..."

I felt hot tears of grief and anger pour down my cheeks. "You're going to be okay, Eris. You hear me? Just hang on a little longer, okay?"

She shook her head. "Be... wi... with fam... family..." Her blue eyes told me that she was a million miles away from the world we were in. "Love..."

I pushed against her wound to stop the bleeding, but she didn't even acknowledge the pain. Eris pulled my hands away from her bleeding stomach and placed the budder daggers in my fingers, closing them around the twin hilts. "Love you... A—Athen... Athenaaa..."

She didn't move again.

I cried over her body, Odysseus nudging her head affectionately. I wanted to help her, but unless I knew how to make a healing potion...

I looked at the hand that held my sister's daggers, and I felt anger. Eris was my only remaining family—eight years old with a long life of happiness still ahead of her—and she was ripped violently ripped from my grasp. The Squids killed my only remaining family that I loved.

I looked at Odysseus, who was still whimpering and nudging Eris' head. "You wanna help avenge our sister?"

He looked at me with large, sad eyes.

"I thought so."

* * *

I woke up in a cold sweat, shaking and crying. I was on my stomach with my daggers embedded inches into the wood in front of me, as if pinning something to the ground and making a kill.

"Oh... Eris..." I moaned.

I left the budder daggers in the wood, but I sat up and leaned against the stone wall. I did nothing at first but hug my knees...

Then I buried my head and began to cry for my little sister.


	6. Chapter 6: Alliances Not To Ignore

Dawn POV—

I stared in shock at the new vision the children of Notch were showing me. It showed Sky, helping a spy _for __The Squids_ survive as he and his tiny group made their way to the Sky Army HQ. This was _Sky-turning-out-to-be-half-a-squid_ all over again.

"No fucking way," was all I could squeak out.

Kate, Sierra, Jerome, and Deadlox—who were the only ones present at the time—all pinched the bridges of their noses. "This is not good," Kate pointed out.

I fumed, grabbing the nearest object I could find in the conference room—a vase of budder roses—and threw them against the wall across the room. "Sky can't trust her! She's going to kill him in his sleep! I don't want my husband to be killed by an agent, hired by The Squids, killed in his sleep because she trusted her!"

Zhubox walked into the room. "I located Athena."

Jerome and Deadlox stood. They were trying to locate where Athena was as well, since Notch himself was hunting her down, and she had some useful information that Sky Army needed. "Where? We'll go get her."

Zhubox smirked as he snapped his fingers, a screen of white smoke appearing in front of us all. "Here. At the main Alternate Army HQ," he replied, pointing at a spot on the map he created.

Sierra cocked her head. "Um... why didn't we just do that earlier? We saw her in the base..."

"Because there are over twenty Alternate Army bases. The main base is near here." Ckbrothers emerged from behind Zhubox. " 'Nuff said."

"How do _you_ know this?" Kate asked, clearly curious.

Ck pointed at the base. "Because I have an old... er... friend, that is one of the head generals. Nothing more or less."

I sat back down in my chair, rubbing a hand across my abdomen. "So, I suppose you're going to try and find this girl?"

Deadlox, Jerome, and Ck nodded. "We just need some fast transportation, considering who's after her." He pointed towards the ceiling.

Kate and Sierra looked at each other, then smiled. "We have two old friends that could help you," Kate said.

I stood up. "I'm going too."

Zhubox and everyone else quickly shook their heads. "No, no, no! We think you should stay because of... two lives."

I nodded glumly, sitting back down and putting a hand to my belly...

* * *

Jerome POV—

Deadlox, Kate, Sierra, Ckbrothers, and I walked through the snow, trying to get to the meeting place before a blizzard would start coming. Sierra and Kate had arranged a meeting with two old friends for transportation. Neither Ck, Deadlox, or I knew who the people were...

"Dude, I can't see shit!" I said leaning over to Ck, who was walking next to me. "Why the fuck are we doing this?"

Before he could answer, we all heard Deadlox cry out: "CREEPER!" from ahead from the group. The snow was starting to fall in heavy again, so none of us could see more than three feet in front of us. "DIE!"

"HOLY SQUID SHIT! I'M NOT A CREEPER!" a teen's unknown voice yelped.

Sierra gasped. "DEADLOX! THAT'S NOT A CREEPER!"

My friend came into view inside a small cave, a budder sword raised above his head. There was a creeper in front of him, a terrified look on it's face. The only difference with this one was the tinted black _L_ on it's stomach. It looked like a normal creeper (minus the _L_), but it wasn't acting like one.

Then it _spoke_. "I'm not a creeper, dude! Don't kill me! Blab! BLAB!"

Deadlox whimpered, mostly in fear. "How can you speak?!" Deadlox turned towards me. "Jerome! A little back-up here!"

Before I could even wrap my mind around what the heck was going on, a puff of ender particles appeared behind me. "You tryin' to hurt Lignite here, punk?"

I slowly turned on my heels, looking into the face of an enderman. The enderman wore a white hoodie with a diamond pickaxe design on the front with the hood pulled low over his head. But I could still see the glowing purple eyes. He had on casual blue jeans and budder sneakers, but they were dirty, like hadn't washed them in years.

He roared like an ender dragon and tackled Deadlox and I to the wall, both of his hands to our throats. He growled. "You come to hurt Lignite, eh? You wanna get through me first?"

"Yo! Blab! They're not here to kill you!" Kate yelled.

The enderman turned his head to look at our friends. "Oh. H—Hey, guys..."

Sierra pinched the bridge of her nose. "It was an honest mistake for Deadlox to think Lignite was a creeper, okay? We thought you were an enderman when we first met you, right?"

I was staring wide eyed at the two beings in front of me. It then hit me that the enderman was about _my_ size. Human-sized. The creeper wasn't trying to kill us. And he was _speaking _to us.

The enderman dropped us. "Oh shit! You guys are Sky Army generals! I'm really sorry!"

I coughed and clutched my throat, on my knees as I tried to regain my breath. Deadlox was curled into a ball hacking like a cat, writhing around in pain. "No... not your fault..." I choked out.

Kate and Sierra helped Deadlox and me up, checking to see if we were really okay. Deadlox stared at the _creeper_ in shock. "If you're not a creeper, then what are you?"

The _creeper_ seemed to sigh. "I _am_ a creeper, a different kind anyways. An endangered kind of creeper known as the _Timid Creepers_."

I vaguely remembered hearing the name _Timid Creepers._ "Then why didn't you.. _blow up?_"

"_Timid Creepers_ don't have gunpowder, therefore we have almost no defense," he explained.

The enderman nodded. "I'm an_ Enderman Farlander;_ a kind of humanoid-like enderman, though we aren't in anyway human. Completely enderman. I'm the last of my village, the only known Farlander village."

"Tough lives," Ckbrothers pointed out.

"Yup," the Timid Creeper replied. "I'm Lignite, by the way. This is Blabideeblah. You can just call him either Blab or Blabid."

I nodded. "Nice to meet you. I'm Jerome. This is Deadlox and Ckbrothers. Call him Ck."

Balbid pulled his hood slightly lower over his head. "I think we should talk somewhere better than in a cold cave. How about my base?"

Ck looked curious. "And what would your place be, exactly?"

Lignite seemed to grin. "The Skyhub 2013, bitches!"

* * *

Sky POV—

Ruby, Sapphire, and Susan seemed to get along pretty well. As we walked towards the Sky Army HQ—where as I could now see the main gates from about 100 blocks away—they chatted away on techniques for stealth and killing The Squids. They talked about ways to sneak up on the enemy during certain events or occasions. Most of the stuff was actually useful, and I listened along as they talked.

That was when I saw Dawn.

She was standing outside of the obsidian gates, shivering and looking at us with both worried and angry eyes. All she wore was a budder chestplate over a small jacket. In her hand, she held a bow loaded with a TNT arrow. I smiled and ran over to her. "Dawn!"

She ignored me as she raised her bow, walking towards the three girls with anger flaring in her eyes. "You! The girl in the goddamn Pikachu dress! Get the fuck away from the Sky Army!"

Susan raised her hands. "Whoa! I—I don't know what's happening!"

"Yes you do, you asshole! Trying to trick Sky into thinking that you would switch over from The Squids to Sky Army only for cash? I don't think so!" Dawn shouted.

Ruby and Sapphire drew their weapons. "Yo, Dawn! Enough!"

I walked up to Dawn and snatched away her bow. "Dawn! She can be trusted!"

"No she can't!" Dawn shouted at me. "Are you turning into a Squid, _again?"_ she demanded.

"No!" I answered. "First off, how did you know about her?"

Dawn glared at me angrily. "We had some old friends who came to visit!"

The children of Notch. I didn't even need to ask. "Why are you so protective? Can't we just call in a couple recruits to keep an extra eye on her?" I turned to Susan. "No offense."

"None taken," Susan replied.

I looked at Dawn. "What are you even doing out here in the first place?"

She jabbed me in the chest with her finger. "Meet me in our quarters, and I'll tell you," Dawn answered through a clenched jaw. She stormed back into the HQ.

I sighed and turned back to my friends. "Sorry. I don't know what's gotten into her for the last few weeks."

They nodded, then walked into the HQ. Like Dawn wanted, I ordered a couple recruits to watch over Susan, maybe be forgiven a bit by Dawn.

* * *

I walked into Dawn's and my quarters, shutting the door behind me. Dawn was sitting on the bed, her face buried in her palms. I quietly sat down next to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry I was gone for a while. I think you might understand what happened."

She nodded through tears. "Goddamn Squids."

I sighed. "Anyways, have you been alright lately? You've seemed to be a little on edge recently."

She sighed, leaning against my shoulder. "I wish there could be a safer way of saying this, but there is no way."

I looked at her, blinking. "What do you mean? Do we have to move biomes again? Did one of our friends die? Caveman? Toby? Markiplier? PBG? Anyone from Team Press Start? One of the children of Notch? The children of Herobrine?" I rattled off nervously, hoping that none of them were dead or hurt.

Dawn looked at me, her eyes red and puffy from crying. "I don't know whether this is more of good news than bad news..."

I blinked at her. "Yeah..."

She put a hand to her stomach, and I instantly understood.

"Oh my Notch..." I mumbled.

She nodded. "I know."

"Oh my Notch..."

Dawn sighed. "What are we gonna do, Sky? This may make Sky Army and it alliances a bigger target than before."

I ignore her last comment as I quickly wrapped my arms around her, squeezing the air out her lungs. "I don't care!"

Dawn pushed me away. "What!?"

"I'm going to be a father, and that's all that matters!" I exclaimed.

Fresh tears erupted on Dawn's cheeks and face as she hugged me hard enough to nearly crack my ribs. "Oh thank Notch!"

* * *

**Quick A/N before I go!**

**To _Blade the Dewott:_ I did get all of those OC requests, I was just waiting for the right time to use them. Don't freak out!**

**Also, I am very sorry that I didn't post yesterday. My family was actually going to my uncle's wedding, so I was... a little busy...**

**(I caught the bouquet! Yeah!)**

**Back to the story: Yeah! We have a new twist, and a dangerous one too! Let's see how this turns out! (Grins evilly...)**

**Nah! Let's make sure this ends as awesome as every recruit we get for the Awesomer Army!**

**-The Awesomer**


	7. Chapter 7: Skyhub 2013, Bitches!

Deadlox POV—

"So, what is the 'Skyhub 2013,' exactly?" Ck asked curiously.

Blabid didn't say a word as he grabbed Lignite, Kate, and Sierra by their shoulders and disappeared in a puff of ender particles. That left Jerome, Ck, and I alone in the cold blizzard that was starting up. I shivered as I pulled my budder jacket tighter over my shoulders. "Why did we agree on meeting here in _a cave?_" I asked.

Ck shrugged. "I guess it would be safer for Lignite and Blabid. I mean, how would you feel if you were a recruit and suddenly a creeper and an enderman walk into the HQ?'

Point taken.

Blabid teleported back to us. "C'mon." He grabbed our shoulders, and we were engulfed in purple ender particles.

* * *

I opened my eyes to see a large shadow looming over the ground. I snapped my attention to the sky, expecting to see some strange monster. Instead...

I saw the Skyhub 2013.

"Holy squid shit," I mumbled.

It was _huge_, reaching up to 150 blocks up. It was made of dark spruce wood, making it look like a Skyhub hidden in the shadows of the storm clouds. There were two small rooms near the from of the Skyhub with another one at the back. The main room was in the center, a trapdoor separating it from the outside. Though they were hidden, I knew from experience that there was an extra floor above the main room, then two _huge_ watch towers connected only by wooden columns leading up by ladders.

I only knew part of this stuff because Sky showed me Skyhub 3.0. Come to think of it, the Skyhub 2013 look _exactly_ like Skyhub 3.0.

Jerome and Ck were just as speechless as I was, staring at the Skyhub 2013 like it was made of budder. "You made this?"

Blabid nodded, pride showing in his purple eyes. "Yep. Took me three months to finish."

I felt the cold start to nip at me, and I shivered. "As amazing as it looks from the outside, I would rather explore the inside."

My two friends nodded numbly as they walked to the entrance, which was a column of wood with some ladders leading up. I was the first to go up, willing my frozen hands to close around the wooden rungs and pull my body weight up. Jerome followed next, along with Ck and Blabid. Kate and Sierra were already inside, marveling at the interior while talking with Lignite.

I pushed open the trapdoor and pulled myself into the Skyhub 2013. "Holy squid shit. It's freezing out there."

I helped Jerome, Ck, and Blabid into the Skyhub, all of them covered in snow and shaking from the cold. The wind howled like an angry wolf outside of the Skyhub 2013, sending a chill of fear up my spine. I pulled of my jacket, watching as almost _half an inch_ of snow fell off the slick material. Ck and Jerome followed suit, Jerome shaking his fur to dry off. Ck shook off his jacket as well, revealing a clean Lucario Pokemon hoodie.

I sighed. "As much as I really want to tour the Skyhub 2013, we really need to talk business."

Kate and Sierra sighed as well. "We need some help getting an old friend out of a base. Notch himself is after the girl, and we need a quick route to finding her and getting her back safely."

Blabid and Lignite nodded. "No prob. Just tell us where it is," Blabid replied.

I was shocked. "Wait. This could endanger your life because _Notch_ is after her, and you accept without even hesitating?"

Lignite nodded. "Yep. That's just how we roll."

* * *

Athena POV—

I sat on the floor in my room, finally calming myself down from last night's dream just as Vic walked into the room. He was holding the usual syringe, but this one was filled with a light blue liquid that actually glowed slightly. With Vic were two burly looking guards.

Vic wasn't flashing off his usual insane smile. He just motioned for me to stand. "Get up. You need to come with us."

I rose unsteadily, still trembling slightly. "What is it?" I asked slowly, making extra sure I didn't stutter or let my voice crack.

Vic didn't answer as he took my right arm and pushed the needle into my flesh, injecting the blue liquid before extracting the needle. "A few experiments. Nothing to worry about. Just to make sure you aren't infected with anything that might wipe-out the base."

I nodded and followed the trio out of my quarters. I rubbed my arm where the needle was, feeling a numb, tingling sensation travel up my arm and shoulder. My fingers twitched, accidentally summoning a wither skull. I only closed my eyes and took a deep breath in, feeling the skull melt away from my hand.

Vic looked back at me. "I can cure you."

I snapped my attention to him. "W—What?"

He smiled. "I know exactly how you became what you are, and I can cure you if you want to be normal. The procedure is a little painful..."

I stopped walking in pure shock, the possibilities flooding my mind and clouding my thoughts. Being just a normal human...

* * *

Now may be the best time to explain _exactly_ what I was and how it came to be. I am a hybrid: Only part human. I was born a normal human, and so were my brother and sisters, but my dad had found a way to make normal, pure-blooded humans more powerful with the help of capturing and experimenting with the essence of different life-forms.

My older sister—Calypso—was born a pure-blood human, but turned into a part-skeleton hybrid. This explained why she was always good with a bow the second she could lift one.

My brother—Hephaestus—was born a pure-blood human, but turned into a part-spider hybrid. He was amazing at climbing walls and an expert at making potions that could cause harm to someone.

My little sister—Eris—believe it or not, was part-ender dragon. She was _by far,_ the most dangerous of us all. But to keep her safe, we told her she was just a normal human. I was going to tell her when she got older, but I was too late. If she knew, she could have been able to sprout wings and just be plain terrifying.

I was part-wither. My dad had found a wither-star and mixed the essence of the wither with me. I could make wither skulls whenever I really needed them, plus I was immune to the Wither Effect. My blood (if injected into someone who has the Wither Effect) could cure anyone, whether the Wither Effect was fresh or a little late.

My siblings and I hated it.

* * *

Vic snapped his fingers. "Athena? You okay?"

I snapped back to reality and nodded numbly, a grin erupting on my face. "Change me!"

He looked at me, furrowing his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"You said you could cure me! Change me! Cure me! I want to just be a normal human!"

Vic flashed his usual insane grin. "I understand how you feel, but the procedure is painful—"

"I don't care! Change me!"

My old friend sighed. "Okay. But don't say I didn't warn you."

* * *

**Surprise! Another plot twist for my own OC!**

**Not exactly an original plot twist idea, but I haven't seen any Minecraft-Fanfiction plot twists that feature someone who's part-wither!**

**HA!**

**-The Awesomer**


	8. Chapter 8: A Painful Key to the Past

Sky POV—

Though I was excited that Dawn was pregnant, she made me swear that I would tell no one. If anyone else knew, Dawn believed that it would be a one-way ticket to a fast death for us, our friends, Sky Army, it's alliances, and the unborn child. No one that already didn't know would find out.

I walked back out to the main grounds, watching the snow come down in buckets. The Sky Army was taking the usual refuge in the main building, crowding around anything that radiated warmth—the kitchen furnaces, all the fireplaces, the fires in the armory—talking and laughing in attempt to lighten the mood. Susan, Ruby, and Sapphire were together, talking and laughing as well like best friends. A few men actually tried to hook up with them at one point, but the trio only drew their weapons and told them to go away.

I had to respect them.

I soon walked to the cafeteria and spotted my friends' table. I smiled as I sat down and greeted them. "Hey guys."

Bodil, Minecraftuniverse, Seto, Ssundee, Antvenom, Bajan, MUDKIPZ, Caveman, and Sparklez all smiled and welcomed me back. "Good to see you, Sky."

I looked around and noticed a few other people at a separate table. I broke out into a grin. "Well, well, well. Looks like we have some trouble over here."

The children of Notch—iAngel, Zhubox, Luna, Del, and Polska—looked up and waved to me. With them were Marz and Noah—the two children of Herobrine and siblings.

I looked to my left. I saw almost all of Sky Army's alliance leaders: TobyTurner from The Audience.

PBG, Kyrak, and McJones.

Markiplier and Minion.

All of Team Press Start. Skylander and Snapp were talking with PBG and Markiplier.

I laughed. "Either someone here did a prank and told everyone here there was cake, or..." I trailed off. "Wait..."

Bodil bit his lip. "Sky, we have something to tell you. Your friend, Athena..."

Luna broke in from the other table. "Athena isn't what you think she is."

I nodded. "Yeah. I know. I don't know what she is, but I know she isn't normal. Is she a Squid?"

Zhubox shook his head. "No! Her family was killed by The Squids! She's one of our personal friends! She's just... not completely human."

I blinked. "Okay. As long as she doesn't work for The Squids, I don't care what she is."

Seto started a fit of fake coughing. "*_coughcough_*She has dangerous information that could destroy Sky Army...*_coughcough_*!"

I snapped my attention to him. "What?"

iAngel sighed. "She has a plan, information, and so many other things that if they backfire onto us, it could wipe out the human race."

I looked at her. "And this plan is?"

Marz and Noah pulled out small vials filled with a variety of colored liquids, setting them on my table. Marz motioned to them. "When she was a kid, her parents mixed the essence of certain animals and monsters in her siblings' and her own essence. This created human-monster-hybrids, like Herobrine used with the creation of zomibe-pigmen, or the squid-human hybrids in the Nether. She believes that if we mix all of the Sky Army with monster essence, we can defeat The Squids. However..."

Noah picked up. "If the essence makes the Sky Army rogue, then we gotta say bye-bye to the human race."

* * *

Athena POV—

I sat in the iron chair that I was strapped to, writhing as horrible pain burned throughout my body. Vic had mixed together certain materials that would help expel the wither-essence from my body and replace it with normal human-essence. He turned it into a gaseous vapor that I was forced to breathe in, and by the time the vapor had disappeared, I was writhing in my chair.

I heard my brother and sister, shouting and screaming at me for making the mistake of trying to be normal. Calypso and Hephaestus' shouts I didn't mind, but Eris'...

_Why!? Your gift was going to save hundreds of people if you just kept it! You needed it in the future! _Eris yelled in my mind.

Tears of grief and pain slid down my cheeks. "I don't wanna be an abomination! I just wanna be a normal person!" I yelled back.

The misty form of my little sister appeared in front of me. She was sitting on the ground, petting our wolf Odysseus (who died when a skeleton took him out without me seeing). She had her iron chestplate on, holding her budder daggers, just like old times when she was alive. Eris turned her attention to me. _I lived my whole life believing that I was a normal human! You were special, knowing what you really were! I know what I am now!_

A shutter passed through me and I sobbed, aware that Vic was watching me from behind a glass window in safety. He was probably writing down some notes saying that I was delusional and was having hallucinations. "I'm sorry! I wanted to keep you safe!"

Eris frowned._ What you are planning to get your revenge on The Squids, don't do it. We were only ones who were turned because we were the only ones that were stable enough to take the essence. I have an idea that could help._

I tried to stand desperately, but the iron chair held me back. "What? What is it?"

_Remember what I was a hybrid of?_

"Y—Yeah," I nodded slowly, noticing the pain from the vapor starting to fade.

_As much as you hate what happened in the past, this is the only thing that may help you,_ Eris explained. _Don't mistake me for something else. I can help you defeat The Squids, but you have to trust me on what is gonna happen, okay?_

I nodded. "Okay, Eris. W—What is it?"

Eris motioned to Odysseus, and the dog walked towards me. Even though he was just a mist form of my old wolf-friend, I still felt a pang of guilt and sadness fill me. My old hunting companion carefully nudged my hand, dropping a small sphere in my palm. It was blue-green, with nothing but a dark slit in the center. It turned from a form in the mist into a real, solid shape in my palm.

An Eye of Ender.

I looked back at the person/animal that used to be a part of my life, clasping my fingers around the sphere. "What will this do?"

Before Eris could say anything, one of the burly guards pulled me from the iron chair, and my little sister faded away. The guard pulled me away and back into my quarters, not saying a word along the way. I cleverly hid the Eye of Ender behind my palm, keeping it out of the guard's sight. If he saw the Eye, maybe he would take it away, and I was not letting the guard take away something that my sister had just given to me.

I dragged myself onto the bed and let the sobs of pain and grief overcome me, and I lay in the bed. I snapped my wrist, hoping to still be able to summon a wither skull. But all I got was a small puff of white smoke. My gift was gone.

"Eris... Hephaestus... Calypso..." I let out the tiny moan and felt a pang of pain in the center of my heart.

My fingers tightened around the Eye, and I felt the tears start to threaten to pour out. I blinked once, keeping my eyes closed for three seconds to keep the tears from flowing. The Eye of Ender grew warm in my hands and warmed my chest, and I sighed, slightly soothed by how it felt. Everything felt normal in a way, but when I opened my eyes...

I was in the End.


	9. Chapter 9: An Unexpected Return

Athena POV—

I stood on the white Endstone that was bathed in a dark light from what was supposed to be the sky. Enderman walked aimlessly by with Endstone in their arms, cooing and talking among each other. The dark obsidian towers held the rotating purple crystals that levitated just above a burning bedrock slab. I looked around, fear pumping through my heart. How did I get here?

My hand opened up on it's own. The Eye of Ender gently floated from my palm to in front of me, glowing as warmth carefully emanated from the small orb.

"Hey!" I plucked the Eye from the air and kept it in a tight fist. "Don't go away!"

I then heard a deep, resonating growl directly behind me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as hot breath hit my back. I didn't scream. I just froze in place, petrified by the sudden presence behind me.

I carefully turned on my heels to face the large, dark snout only a few inches from my face. Nostrils flared as the beast in front of me breathed out hot, stinking breath. Gray horns sat on top of it's head, curved back to help protect it's skull. Large purple eyes the size of my fists stared at me, as if it were unlocking the secrets in my very _soul_. Its body was larger than a jungle tree if it was laid out flat, no doubt. The scales were as dark as obsidian glistening in the midnight moon. The wings were larger than life, spreading out up to 50 blocks for each wing. The gray spines that traveled along the back of the beast were jagged and sharp, making it look like a painful way to ride.

I started to hyperventilate in pure fear. I was getting a close-up of the Ender Dragon. I stared at the large head, absolutely terrified in belief that I was going to die. But it never made any kind of move. It just stared at me, as if waiting for something...

"H—Hi..." I said. "Please do hurt me..."

It kept staring, but it also motioned to my hand.

"Do... do you want to see the Eye of Ender?" I asked. I opened my palm, and the Eye levitated from my hand. It glowed, bathing both of us in a blue-green light.

_Don't mistake me for something else..._ My little sister's words echoed in my mind.

_Remember what I was a hybrid of?..._

_You're gonna have to trust me..._

The realization slapped me in the face. This beast...

"Oh my Notch! It's you!" I wrapped my arms around the large the large neck of the Ender Dragon, the dark scales smooth underneath my hands. "It's you! It's you!"

The beast nuzzled it's head against my face, a sweet coo escaping its snout.

Tears streamed down my cheeks. "Eris! Eris! Eris! Eris!" The name was like old forgotten candy on my tongue. I didn't release Eris until the tears were almost done flowing. "Oh my Notch! You're the Ender Dragon! You're a powerful beast-of-legend! Why did you never tell me?"

Eris' purple eyes flickered, but she said nothing. It just nuzzled me again.

I rubbed my hand against the dark scales again, awestruck laughed like a little kid. "Wow. This is amazing!"

The Eye of Ender flashed, then gently floated just above the Ender Dragon's head. It glowed more brightly, bathing my face with light. The Eye then projected a beam of light just in front of me. The mist form of my little sister as a human levitated in front of me, her mouth in a wide smile. _I was amazed at first, too._

I felt fresh tears of happiness stream down my face again. "Eris! You...! You're...! Oh my Notch!"

She smiled. _Yes. I quite like this new form. I get a second chance at life, though... it is lonely here in the End..._

The Ender-Dragon-Eris lowered her head, miming what Mist-Eris said.

I nodded. "I feel more alone in the Overworld. It's just..." I trailed off.

Mist-Eris nodded. _You need to go. Someone is going to bring you to the Sky Army HQ. Do_ **_not_**_ tell anyone about me until the right time._

"How will I know when the right time is?" I asked.

Ender-Dragon-Eris motioned to the Eye of Ender, and I understood. I felt myself start to fade away from the End, the image fading away.

Mist-Eris waved good-bye, and her mist form faded away. The Eye of Ender floated away from Ender-Dragon-Eris and back into my palm. I stuffed it into my hoodie pocket, and wrapped my almost-transparent arms again around the Ender Dragon. "Bye, Eris..."

I faded away completely, and I jolted awake in my bed. Was all that just a dream? Besides the Eye of Ender?

Someone knocked on my door, and Vic walked into my quarters. "You okay? Any side effects?"

_Oh yeah... _I thought to myself. _I asked Vic to remove the Wither-essence from my body. I'm now human._

I nodded slowly. "Just a shitton of pain. But I'm okay."

Vic nodded. "Good. Get up and come with me."

* * *

Lignite POV—

Blabid, Ck, and I teleported to the base like Kate, Sierra, Jerome, and Deadlox informed us to. We were to start off as just trying to ask for the girl—_Athena_, I think was her name—and if they refused, we were supposed to kidnap her if we needed to. Ck was going because he knew about the base we were going to. The Alternate Army, I think. Blabid was going for obvious reasons. I was going just for backup. I would intimidate them if I needed to.

We found ourselves in a small lobby of-sorts. People doing work walked by, giving us short glances as they passed. Ck pulled his Lucario Pokemon hoodie lower over his head before he stopped one of the girls. She looked around 13, young yet intelligent. "Excuse me, but can we see a man named 'Vic?' "

The girl nodded. "First off, why is there a creeper in here? How come it isn't trying to hurt anyone?"

Blabid pulled his hood lower over his face, the white hood smothering the purple glow in his eyes. It was obvious that he was trying to hide the fact that he was a kind of enderman. I spoke up. "I'm something called a _Timid Creeper._ We can't explode, but we can speak English fluently."

The girl nodded, her eyes wide. "Oh. Interesting." She turned back to Ck. "I'll tell him you're here." She walked off.

Blabid sighed and turned to me. "I have a feeling that you're getting tired of that."

I nodded, taking a deep breath in then letting it out. "I'm about to snap."

About five minutes later, a man walked to us. He had an interesting appearance: crazy brown hair with an equally crazy beard, a blue jacket with tan jeans, and two multicolored eyes. One was a sea blue and the other was deep purple, like a lighter-colored version of Blabid's eyes. He smiled at Blabid and I, but the smile melted when he saw Ck. "Well, well, well. It's _you_."

Ck growled. "Long time; no see, Vic."

The man blinked his multicolored eyes. "What do you want?"

Ck didn't say anything. He just glared. I decided not to say anything either. I was studying the tension between the two men. Blabid took over: "We were sent over by a few generals of the Sky Army to retrieve a certain girl, sir. A girl named 'Athena.' We may need her in the Sky Army Head Quarters."

Vic turned his attention to my Farlander friend. "Why would you need her, exactly?"

"She has some information that the Resistance against The Squids will need. She may have a plan and many other things Sky Army will need," Blabid replied.

Vic nodded. "Okay. I'll go get her for you."

My friend smiled. "Thank you, sir."

Vic left, but Ck kept watching him as he left, anger burning in his eyes. I looked at him. "What's happening with you and Vic, there?"

"Let's just say, we're alternate versions of ourselves. Enough said," Ck answered.

I didn't ask anything else. After another five minutes, Vic came back with a girl. The girl had a dark green hoodie, pink camo jeans with a leather belt, combat boots, and leather fingerless gloves. She had black spiky hair, like she was electrocuted by a few radio wires. At her sides were twin budder daggers, clean and glistening in the torchlight. Her eyes kept shifting colors, like water when you kept dropping different colored dyes in.

Vic directed her to me. "Here she is. Tell Sky I said 'hi,' by the way."

Ck growled. "Riiight."

I interrupted. "Yes, sir. Thank you very much!"

Blabid grabbed all of us, and we disappeared in a puff of ender particles. But there was one thought going through my mind:

_That was easy..._


	10. Chapter 10: Explaining

Sky POV—

I sat at the table, staring at my friends. "So... what now?"

"We sent a few people to help out and get Athena. We got Deadlox, Jerome, Ck, Kate, and Sierra," Zhubox replied.

"When will they be back? Do you know?" I asked.

Before anyone said anything else, a startled gasp elevated from the Sky Army recruits. I turned to see something... weird.

There was Deadlox, Jerome, Ck, Kate, and Sierra walking towards us. With them, was Athena, a creeper with a tinted black _L_ on its chest, and a creepy looking guy in a white hoodie with a diamond pick on the front, blue jeans, and budder shoes. Athena looked shaken up, trembling slightly and clutching something tightly in a fist.

I stood. "Hey guys. Athena," I greeted with a smile. I pointed at the creeper and the creepy-looking guy. "Who are these?"

Kate motioned to the creeper. "This is Lignite, and this guy is Blabid."

Lignite nodded. "_The_ Sky! I've always wanted to meet you."

I freaked out a bit, backing into my table. "It can talk?!"

Lignite nodded. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna hurt you. I can't explode."

The guy in the hood, Blabid, spoke up. "I'm a kind of enderman, by the way."

I stared at the guy. He wasn't as tall as an enderman, honestly. Blabid's hood was pulled really low over his face, so I couldn't see face. He must have seen the confusion on my face, and he pulled up his hood a little bit, just enough to reveal glowing purple eyes.

"Wow," I mumbled. "I've seen children of Notch. Children of Herobrine. I have seen hybrids of endermen and many other things. I have almost gone over to The Squids once. But I have never seen a friendly creeper or enderman."

Lignite nodded. "Yep. This world is crazy in so many ways."

I nodded, before turning to Athena. "Okay, Athena. I believe you need to explain these." I motioned to the needles fulled with various liquids. "What were you going to do with these?"

Athena took in a deep breath. "I think I should explain what I am first... or what I _was..._"

So, Athena explained how Athena was to be a hybrid. _Was_ a hybrid. Apparently, back at the Alternate Army base, Vic had removed the Wither essence from her body, making her a complete human. Her family was composed of hybrids created from her father. After her entire family was killed by The Squids, she decided to take revenge on them by creating hybrid-soldiers in Sky Army and it's alliances. She explained her plan to Notch, and even _he _agreed it was a good idea, though Notch didn't now she was a hybrid.

Notch gave her the okay to do some tests with different animals using different kinds of essence: Starting with pig, chicken, and cow essence with wolf, ocelot, and bat test subjects to be safe. After the tests with the passive animals went okay, she moved on to testing the animals using the monster essence: Skeletons, spiders, and blazes. It seemed okay until she and Notch discovered something in the animals who were tested with the monster essence: Some of the new hybrids would become rogue and attack their own handlers until they were killed. Notch put a stop to the testing, but Athena continued to do the testing without permission.

She didn't want to hurt anyone, or destroy Sky Army, she just wanted to help take down The Squids and get revenge for her family.

"My brother was a human-Spider hybrid. My older sister was a human-Skeleton hybrid. My little sister was... a human-Blaze hybrid."

I heard the hesitation in her voice when she said that, and I knew she was lying. But I wasn't gonna push her. She seems shaken up already.

"I was a human-Wither hybrid. We were all injected with the monster essence and neither of us attacked anyone. I don't understand why..." Athena sat at the table and looked up sadly. "I then realized Notch was right when I was at the Alternate Army base. I never really wanted to hurt anyone. I just wanted to destroy The Squids forever."

Toby, Markiplier, Team Press Start, PBG, The Dwellers, the children of Notch, the children of Herobrine, and all of the Sky Army generals were listening to her story. Snapp and Chance—the leaders of Team Press Start—both bit their lips. "So, why do Marz and Noah have these?" Chance pointed at the syringes filled with the monster essence.

Athena lowered her gaze, her eyes glinting like she was about to cry. "Those were my original samples. I was gonna find a few recruits in the Sky Army or anywhere else that would agree to help me and test them out. But, Notch figured out my plan and stole them. I guess he trusted Marz and Noah with them."

The siblings nodded. "Yup. That's exactly what happened."

Bajan glanced at the samples. "How did you even extract this in the first place?"

"I just some of the blood from the monsters, then I just extracted the exact DNA," she answered.

Sparklez picked up a syringe with a silvery liquid, which I guessed was either skeleton, silverfish, or ghast essence. "Wow. I don't care what you guys think, but I have to say: a well-created plan."

Athena kept her gaze on the ground. "You guys need to destroy those samples. Burn them. Mix them together. I don't care. Just make sure they can never be used again."

I looked back at the samples. There were eleven in all. I could easily guess which monsters that she had chosen. There was the essence of a ghast, skeleton, spider, cave spider, blaze, silverfish, magma cube, slime, witch, enderman, and wither skeleton. The only one missing was the zombie for ovibous reasons **(****A/N: If you can't figure out what Sky means: There is no zombie because you would completely become a zombie. 'Nuff said)**.

I looked back at Athena. "Maybe we can use these to our advantage."

Athena looked up and glared at me. "No, Sky! People can die if we do this! We can't use this to our advantage!"

I shook my head. "What if we infected The Squids? Like, we can infect them with certain kinds of essence, making them attack their own kind."

Athena still shook her head. "No. I only said _some_ of the animals injected with the essence would attack their handlers. Not _all_ of the animals. They could learn to control it and use it to _their_ advantage!"

Point taken. But...

"You were injected with the Wither essence, right? Maybe you can help us break in a kill off The Squids," I proposed.

She nodded. "Yeah, but Vic removed it, remember?"

Ssundee picked up a sample that held a deep orange liquid. Maybe the essence of a blaze or magma cube. "Can't you just re-inject yourself with the essence of a Wither? You could go back to your normal self."

She shook her head. "I can't. It's like ask me to try and ride on the back of the Ender Dragon. It's hard, dangerous, and can get someone killed."

Chance thought for a second. "But if we _did_ manage to get it?"

"Then I would inject myself, and myself _only._ I had already dealt with the Wither essence in my body and will be in better condition to become a hybrid again," Athena answered. "Then we can go ahead and kill The Squids."

Ck nodded. "That's a good idea. But if we can't we're still stuck on square #1."

I caught Athena tightening her fist around something. I didn't see what the object was, but I knew it was possibly important to her. "Exactly. And if we still manage to get it, it's still risky to try and do."

Seto pursed his lips. "So... what are we gonna do?"

Markiplier and PBG looked at each other, mumbling something to each other. PBG finally spoke, "How about a vote?"

* * *

Ruby, Sapphire, and Susan all came to help vote, helping even out the amount of people voting. Dawn—as far as I knew—was still in our quarters. PBG raised his hand first. "All in favor of not risking anyone's lives and thinking of another plan?"

Athena, Kate, Sierra, Ck, Lignite, Blabid, Zhubox, and Minion all raised their hands with PBG.

Markiplier took over. "And all in favor of taking the risk, getting the Wither essence, and destroying The Squids with the plan of injecting Athena?"

Marz, Noah, iAngel, Luna, Polska, Snapp, Chance, Caveman, Seto, Sparklez, Minecraftuniverse, Deadlox, MUDKIPZ, Ssundee, Bajan, Jerome, Markiplier, Kyrak, McJones, Ruby, Sapphire, Susan, and I all raised our hands, easily outnumbering the others.

I smiled. "Well then, I believe we need to collect some soul sand and some wither skulls."

* * *

**Now! That might have helped explain a few things to some of the readers! I've worked very hard on making this work out, so give me credit!**

**Also, for the vote part at the end, I had to count up all of the characters (The Youtubers and OCs), and I realized that all of the characters, OCs and all, add up to... er... drumroll, please!**

***Ratatatatatatatatatata...!***

_**35 character in all for the entire**__** story and series (Minus Eris, Calypso, and Hephaestus)!**_**Oh my Notch! I can't believe I can remember that many characters in this series! Wow!**

**I just wanted to throw that out there! See if you can remember and name them off!**

**As for now, I will see you in tomorrow's chapter!**

**-The Awesomer**


	11. Chapter 11: Sisterly-LovePreperations

Athena POV—

I really hate Sky right now.

Sure, he and I want to destroy The Squids, but I didn't want to have to make myself a hybrid again at the cost of a few lives. If we were to get the essence of the Wither, we would have to work fast, hard, efficient, and smart. If we failed...

Well, we could kiss our chance to kill The Squids bye-bye.

After creating a plan to fight the Wither, we all split up into different groups: Deadlox, Kermit, Sky, and Seto's teams were sent to the Nether to get the soul sand and the wither skulls.

Caveman, Toby, Markiplier, and PBG were sent to the Nether to get some materials for potions to heal the wounded as we fought and potions to distract the Wither while we got the essence.

Sparklez, Minion, McJones, and Kyrak went to the blacksmith to start making armor and weapons, enchanting each one.

iAngel, Zhubox, MUDKIPZ, Bajan, and Jerome went down into the mines to collect the other needed materials for the blacksmith.

Ssundee, Minecraftuniverse, Ck, and Polska began gathering fighters and explaining what was happening (Well... fighting-the-Wither part. Not the essence).

Kate, Sierra, Marz, Noah, Snapp, and Chance all scouted an area we could create the Wither in, away from the Sky Army HQ.

Susan, Ruby, Sapphire, Blabid, and Lignite helped make trenches and towers of obsidian so we could duck behind something when the Wither shot wither skulls at us.

As for me, I just walked through the forest, wondering about what would happen and if everyone would be okay. I fiddled with the Eye of Ender, thinking about what my sister had become.

I stopped at a thought. Would my brother and sister be like that? Would Calypso be a skeleton and Hephaestus a spider?

I shook myself. If they were, they would have probably been killed by a human or something else. But if they were still alive as a spider and a skeleton, would they recognize me?

"Bah!" I started to walk again.

I fumbled with the Eye of Ender again. Should I talk to my sister again? Maybe get some advice. She had seemed wiser than me when I saw her. I opened up my hand, and the Eye levitated a few inches from my open palm.

"Take me to the End, please," I spoke aloud.

Nothing happened. Then it hit me: Even though the Eye would take me to the End, I hadno idea _how_ to get it to take me there.

"Squid shit." I looked at the Eye. "I would like to speak to my sister, the Ender Dragon."

Nothing.

"I would like to see Eris."

Nothing.

"Oh powerful and amazing Eye of Ender, take me to the End to speak with my sister, Eris, the mighty Ender Dragon!"

Zip.

"Dammit!" In frustration I threw the Eye as hard as I could in the direction I was originally walking in. The Eye floated into the air about several blocks high, but that didn't surprise me. That was how the Eye of Ender would react when you threw it into the air.

I stomped my foot in anger. I may have looked like a four-year-old about to have a tantrum, but I didn't care. I had no idea how to get to the End and speak with my sister. The Eye of Ender floated back into my hand and I closed my eyes, forcing back tears of anger and sadness.

I opened my eyes again, and I gasped. I was in the End. The white endstone was underneath my boots, endermen walking around and making their random sounds like usual. The dark "sky" was overhead, making a dark overcast around the strange dimension. Tall obsidian towers held the purple crystals as usual.

"Oh... so that's how you get to the End." I mumbled to myself. All I had to do was close my eyes. That simple.

I heard the deep growl behind me again, and I smiled, not even turning around. "I'm back, Eris."

Something large nudged my back affectionately, and I turned to see the Ender Dragon. I rubbed the large beast's snout before wrapping my arms around its long neck. The dark scales were warm and smooth under my fingers, and I felt a soothing sensation fill my body. Sure, I was next to a large, and very dangerous monster, but the monster was my sister, and I loved it.

"Eris. I know a way to become a hybrid again, but it's dangerous since I need to get the essence from the Wither. I don't wanna hurt anyone just to get something that could make me equally dangerous," I said to my sister. "Anything you can tell me?"

The Ender Dragon's eyes flickered, but nothing happened.

I sighed. "Should I continue to do this and try my best, or should I stop it from happening and find a safer way?"

The Eye of Ender drifted over the Ender Dragon's head, and mist-Eris appeared in front of me, smiling. _Take the risk._

I stared at her in shock. "What? If I take the risk, it could turn out horrible!"

She shrugged. _Life is made to take risks. Sometimes they turn out good. Sometimes they turn out bad. When we take them, we just have to sit around to wait and see. But I have a good feeling. Taking the risk will turn out to be good._

I frowned, a thought crossing my mind. "Is... is that what you thought when you charged at the creepers before you...?"

Mist-Eris nodded. _Yes, but I'm glad I took that risk. I saved my sister, and that's something good. If I didn't charge the creepers, then we would have both died._

Tears welled up in my eyes. "But... I didn't want you to take that risk! I just wanted my little sister! I wanted you to be alive and standing next to me at every moment!"

Ender-Dragon-Eris nuzzled my face, and I buried my face in her scales.

_I know you do, but life is full of sadness and disappointment. We just have to keep going and pushing forward, no matter what happens or happened._

I looked up at Mist-Eris. "Y—yeah... you're right..."

Ender-Dragon-Eris growled, nuzzling me again. The Eye of Ender drifted back into my palm, and Mist-Eris faded away. I took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly. I rubbed the scales of the Ender Dragon again, and smiled. "I... I'll see you soon..."

I closed my eyes, holding the Eye of Ender. _Take the risk. Taking the risk will turn out to be good._

I opened my eyes, and found myself in the Nether. I wasn't in the Overworld. I wasn't surrounded by a snow-covered forest. I was in a Netherbrick base.

"_AAAAAAAUUUUGH!_"

* * *

Sky POV—

I slashed my sword through another zombie-pigman. "Go! Go! To the portal!"

We had all of the necessary materials to create the Wither and as we celebrated, Deadlox accidentally swung his sword into a zombie-pigman and killed it. And you probably knew what happened next...

"Shit! Seto! Deadlox! Kermit! Everyone! Retreat!" I shouted as I dashed all through the small base that we had been looking around in. We had about ten other recruits that I had found, leaving me just one last person to look for. I killed the zombie-pigmen that tried to kill me, shouting for the recruits to retreat and run to the portal.

"AAAAAAAAAUGH!" I heard a female recruit scream, and I sprinted towards the voice.

I turned the corner to see three zombie-pigmen surrounding the female recruit. I easily charged and killed the pigmen with no problem, helping the girl up and motioning her to follow me.

"Thank you!" she gasped, running close behind me.

A zombie-pigman caught me by surprise from behind, and I felt a budder sword blade stab me in the back. I screeched out and fell over, gasping and dropping my own sword. The girl killed the pigman and tried to help me, but I pushed her away. "Go! Get to the portal!"

I fell onto my stomach, quickly searching my pockets and backpack for a healing potion or a budder apple. I was rewarded with a shimmering budder apple, stuffing it down and feeling my wound heal, but everything around me was blurry, and I felt nauseous. I tried to stand but my knees were wobbly as I sank back to the ground.

"Sky! Get the fuck up!" Athena appeared in front of me, grabbing my wrist and pulling me from the ground.

"How'd you get here?" I mumble.

"I have _no_ clue!" she answered, tugging my wrist for me to follow.

Everything was a blur, but I finally remember making it into the portal just as it started to close. Both of us tumbled onto the snow, breathing hard from the running and the hot temperatures in the Nether. The Sky Army recruits that had gone into the Nether with us were cheering in victory, holding the soul sand and three wither skulls above their heads and whooping with delight.

I sighed, breathing hard. I turned my head to Athena. "Where had you been?"

She swallowed. "I... I don't know."

She was lying. No doubt. But I still had a feeling to not push it.

All of our friends returned within the next hour, bringing weapons, potions, and reports back to us. There was an area for the fight created and ready, we had plenty of potions, fighters, armor, and weapons. We were finally ready.

Athena took a deep breath in. "I'll go get the syringe, and we can go ahead and start fighting the Wither."


	12. Chapter 12: Final Battle

Sky POV—

I took a deep breath, watching as Dawn walked back towards the Sky Army HQ. She wouldn't be able to fight the Wither with us, since it would be dangerous for her and the baby. I didn't want to destroy The Squids at the cost of two family members. I would die if that happened.

Everyone was pulling on their battle gear and equipping themselves with weapons, potions, and extra syringes in case the first one broke as Athena tried to get the sample. Everyone was required to have a few ender pearls with them for backup. Even Vic from the Alternate Army came over to help, though he wasn't happy that after he had removed the Wither essence from Athena he was helping her get the essence into her body _again. _Though, I couldn't blame him.

Marz, Noah, Toby, Markiplier, Minion, PBG, McJones, Kyrak, and the children of Notch had no problem equipping themselves, helping everyone else out with their stuff and even lending over their things to the others. Lignite was a little but of a problem to work with. He couldn't really wear armor correctly, he didn't have hands to hold anything, and he couldn't really do anything. But he didn't say anything or looked bummed out. Instead, he told Blabid that if the battle got out of hand, that they would teleport back to something called the "Skyhub 2013." I didn't know what it was, but I believed it was supposed to be like the "Skyhub" I had created when I was younger.

The plan was pretty simple. We constructed different phases.

Phase one: A few archers would start firing arrows from the obsidian watch-towers that they had created, weakening the Wither from the start.

Phase two: Before the Wither could start attacking the archers, everyone from behind the obsidian walls that were laid out on the ground would attack in a type of pattern we created, confusing and further weakening the Wither.

Phase three: By the time it was almost killed, Athena would go ahead and get the blood-sample we needed to extract the essence from. It was almost fool-proof.

Athena wore her iron armor, handing out her healing potions and budder apples. I cringed as I watched her. "You sure you wanna do that?"

She nodded. "If I die, just find a different way to defeat The Squids."

Kermit, Seto, Deadlox, Ssundee, Antvenom, Sparklez, Ck, Del, and Caveman all stood on top of some obsidian watch-towers that one of the groups had created so that they could easily snipe the Wither using their bows. Everyone else had some lower obsidian walls to hide behind in case something happened with the Wither. Minecraftuniverse, Jerome, Vic, Bajan, and MUDKIPZ all drew their weapons as Luna, Polska, Zhubox, and Kate all walked into the middle of the area. They were about to use the soulsand and the wither skulls to make the Wither, and we all waited behind our cover.

"Soulsand placed down!" Luna reported.

"First wither skull placed!" Polska shouted.

"Second wither skull in place!" Zhubox yelled.

"Final wither skull about to be placed! Countdown in..." Kate announced, trailing off.

"Three!" The countdown had started

"Two!" No turning back.

"One!"

I heard the eerie sound of a Wither cry, and the yelps of my friends. "RUN! FIRE! FIGHT! WE DON'T CARE!"

Luna teleported to one of the archers' posts just as I saw my friends duck behind the obsidian walls for cover. I took a deep breath then took a peak from behind my cover. The Wither was beautiful, ugly, mighty, and horrifying at the exact same time. The body was like a skeletal ribcage, dark with black smoke particles swirling around it. The three skulls looked around hungrily for anything to kill, screeching and rearing the ugly heads.

_Three, two, one..._ I counted down in my head, then I gave the signal. "NO LONGER IMMUNE! FIRE!"

I heard an orchestra of bowstring-twangs sound out from above. Bunches of arrows found their marks in the three heads and sometimes on the "ribs." Each one made the Wither screech in pain, making me clasp my hands over my ears.

Athena was to the right of me, holding a syringe in one hand, a budder dagger in the other. She took a quick peek over her shoulder, but quickly yelped as a wither skull blasted the obsidian blocks behind her.

_Oh, right,_ I thought to myself._ The Wither can destroy obsidian._

Another wither skull nailed Athena in the stomach, and she was sent flying into the trees, a shattered needle and her dagger laying in the ground where she used to be. I looked up at the archers' towers. I watched as Del dove from her tower before a wither skull blew up her post. She pulled out her pickaxe—raising it above her head and shouting out a battle cry that sounded like: "_HERE COMES DEL!_"—landing on the middle head, struck the monster in the eye.

That only sent Del flying into the trees as well.

I looked to my left. Sierra, Ruby, and Sapphire were pinned behind the same obsidian wall I was behind, all of them holding bows with TNT arrows at the ready. I heard Antvenom and Ssundee yelp behind me, probably diving from their posts as well. Deadlox screamed too: "_DON'T DO DIIIIIIIIS!"_

I sighed, quickly sheathing my budder sword and replacing it with a bow. I was the worst with using a bow, but I could still shoot fairly well. I shouted out the next order: "GROUND DISTRACTIONS: INITIATE PHASE TWO!"

Phase two was put into action. Everyone cried out insults to the Wither before firing arrows or running up to the Wither itself and using their hand-held weapons. The Wither, luckily, _was_ confused like we planned out... for a time.

The Wither began to figure out our pattern, dodging the attacks and firing wither skulls at the attackers that rose from their hideouts to attack. The walls of obsidian crumbled after every explosion, sending all of our fighters scrambling around to find more cover. Antvenom, Ethan, Kyrak, Minion, and Ck were jumping around on the tops of trees, firing arrows and shouting to get the Wither's attention. Susan, Ruby, Sapphire, Vic, and Zhubox were trying to help weaken the Wither from the ground, using their swords and knives and other weapons. Blabid and Lignite teleported away, probably to the "Skyhub 2013" like they had planned. Everyone else was looking for Athena. She had disappeared after the wither skull sent her into the trees.

"ATHENA!"

* * *

Athena POV—

"Ow..."

I pulled myself from the snow, hacking and wheezing as my body desperately fought the Wither Effect from the wither skull. Pain wracked my body as I fumbled through my pockets for a budder apple, or some kind of potion.

"Squid shit..." I mumbled, realizing that I had given away all my healing potions and budder apples. I was screwed.

I fell to the snow again, hugging my stomach and hacking up both of my lungs as my body destroyed itself trying to fight the Wither Effect. My vision tunneled to a grey tube, so I was staring at the trunk of a random tree. A large, bloody wound was on my stomach where the wither skull hit it. My heartbeat slowed from 60 beats per minute to only 21. My breathing turned horribly painful. Was this how it was going to end? Killed trying to get the essence of a Wither?

Wow.

If I died, this would be the end of a plan that could succeed in destroying The Squids in the next _century_ possibly...

I was reminded of the time my older sister, Calypso, was teaching me how to fight with a wooden sword when I was six. As an early start to learn how to defend myself. She had hit me hard in the stomach, and I had fallen to the ground, the breath knocked out of me. She smirked. _C'mon, Athena. Is that your best? You can do better. A Muldrow family member doesn't quit that easy!_

I looked up at her, breathing hard. She laughed, telling me that I looked like a drowned fish.

Calypso then offered her hand to me. _Get up, faker. You're not dead. Not 'till I'm done with ya._

I was then reminded by my brother, Hephaestus, when he began to sword fight with me using real iron swords when I was eight. He had put a deep gash in my wrist and ankle, and I was crying. He only gave me a health potion and pulled me back to my feet. _No sister of mine is gonna cry over a cut. You're tougher than that!_

I returned to reality, still fighting the Wither Effect. A few of my friend's screams were directed at me. The Wither was now in front of me, rearing its three ugly heads towards the sky. Each one was about to launch a volley of wither skulls at me. Was this how I was gonna die?

I clenched my jaw. "I'm not dead," I told myself, echoing Calypso's words. "Not 'til I'm looking at the gates of the Nether."

I got off of my stomach and onto my knees, the pain suddenly fading. My friends were firing arrows at the Wither, but I could see the protective shield around it's body, deflecting every arrow that was shot. I pulled out my budder daggers, twirling them on my fingers. "You wanna fight, Wither?"

The Wither stopped doing anything, except watching me as I stumbled to my feet. My eyes started to burn with a determination I had only known from when I killed the creepers in that cave so many years ago. Images of my siblings, making me smile and teaching me things. But they had also taught me one thing that would stick with me for the rest of my life:

Who cares what happens. Just keep going.

I raised my daggers. "COME GET IT YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

The Wither lunged at me, and I flew into a rage-mode. I leaped into the air and stabbed the middle skull with my left dagger, killing the center head. The two other heads were in confusion, firing wither skulls in random directions. One skull nailed me in the leg, but I ignored the searing pain. I remember only flashes of the fight: Everyone staring at me in shock as I stabbed another skull; Vic quickly filling a syringe with the sample we needed for the essence; the Wither dying, but throwing me against a tree before it faded away...

And finally...

Everyone crying out suddenly as I sank to the ground, the Wither Effect slowly draining my energy until...

...until I was in a recovery room. Heavy bandages were wrapped around my stomach and my head, soaked in blood. I gently prodded the bandages on my stomach, a searing, hot pain passing through my body.

Then I felt a needle prick my arm. I turned my head to see Vic, his insane smile filled with glee as I saw a stormy-grey liquid go into my body. He looked at me, still flashing that insane grin.

"Welcome back. You are now officially a hybrid again."

* * *

**Hold up! Before you exit out, I must tell you...**

**There are too many chapters in this part to continue. There must be ANOTHER PART TO CONTINUE! PUT AWAY THE PITCHFORKS!**

**TROLLED!**

**But seriously... to continue, I have to make a whole other part to continue. So...**

**I will see YOU, in the next part!**

**Good-bye, for now!**

**-The Awesomer**

_**Update:**_

**Okay... so my dad was getting a little angry that I was staying up late tonight to write, so I have to post an update. Here we go:  
**

**What I mean is that since there is already 12 chapters in this part, if I post anything else, I am going over my usual limit in chapter-amounts during the series. So, therefore, I am going to have to make a _5th_ part of the series. I know, I know.**

**I understand that you people are going to bring out your pitchforks and torches, but bear with me here. The 5th part is gonna be like part 2 of this part.  
**

**So, quick summary: Too many chapters in this part; going to have to make another part in the series to continue.**

**Also, I'm sorry that my past chapters have been a little low on quality. My dad's been bugging me as I write, so the chapters are going to be a little lower on quality for now.**

**One last thing: Since school is about to start, the chapters are going to change from one chapter _everyday, _to one chapter _every two days._**

**I'm very sorry, but some of you may know why this stuff is happening.**

**Thank you, and I will see you in Part 5.**

**-The Awesomer**


	13. Hey, guys!

**A salute to the Sky Army, Readers, and Awesomer Army Members!**

**If you all may want to know, ****_The Battle of the Sky Army and the Squid Army: Part 5_**** is out right now! So go ahead and check it out!**

**A final salute, and I will see you there!**

**-The Awesomer**


End file.
